Everflame: The Complete Series

by Dylan Lee Peters

  Annie placed five large, yellow candles on the floor and lit them with matches she kept in a bag that hung close to her side. The three fugitives sat in a circle, around the candles, and rubbed their hands for a bit of warmth. Jared was the first to broach the silence.

  “So what?” asked Jared. “Aplistia is some puppet of the Tyrant now? Is he possessed?”

  “I don’t know,” said Annie. “Maybe.”

  “Well, it would be a bit more helpful if your visions weren’t so spotty, sweetheart. Let’s not forget that I just killed a man so that we could escape.”

  “Don’t put that on me! Don’t you dare put that on me!” barked Annie. “That guard recognized you, not me.”

  “Well, I never said that I didn’t come with a reputation,” said Jared with a cocked smile.

  “Was it the first time?” asked Terrence.

  “What?”

  “Was it the first time you killed a man?”

  “No… but that doesn’t make it easier. You ever have to kill a man?”

  “No,” said Terrence.

  “You’re lucky,” said Jared. “It takes the life right out of you. I’ve never done it wantonly. Only a few occasions, when it was needed to escape.”

  “So you’re an outlaw?” asked Annie.

  “I’m an archaeologist… and apparently a heretic.” Jared smiled sarcastically. “I travel the land searching for lost relics. It’s not my fault these relics belong to those who hide them from the world. Some might consider me a liberator, but enough about me, where are we going from here? We can’t stay here but the night.”

  “I still think that we should try to find my cousins, Ben and Tomas,” said Terrence.

  “Terrence, we’ve been over this,” said Jared. “You have no idea where they are. We can’t wander Ephanlarea aimlessly.”

  “I know, but finding them could help us with the map.”

  “What map?” asked Annie.

  Terrence and Jared looked at each other, waiting for the other to speak, but Annie didn’t give them the chance. She pulled back her hood, causing her spiky, black hair to whisk forward like tree branches that had been pulled back and released. She glared at the two men with large, blue eyes that she had surrounded with black makeup, like a raccoon. Annie shook her head like a rabid dog, causing her large, eagle feather earrings to swing around her head like whips, and growled at the men.

  “Cowards! You mean to tell me that after saving your lives last week, and letting you know, before it happened, that the King planned on forcing every man in Chreos into slavery, disguised as faith and fealty, that you’ll still keep me in the dark like a stranger? How dare you!” Annie crossed her arms violently and spun as she sat on the floor, turning her back on the men. “I should have let the two of you burn in that house,” she grumbled.

  “You’re right,” said Terrence. “It’s not fair of us to keep secrets from you.”

  Jared nodded in agreement and pulled a tattered piece of parchment scroll from his cloak. He gently unrolled it and placed it upon the floor, in the middle of the candles. The map looked like a faded outline of Ephanlarea. There were no villages marked, no forests, no lakes nor mountains, just a flat outline. To the left of the outline were eight eagle feathers, spaced vertically along the map. Five of the feathers had a line drawn from them to a place on the map, two had a line that led off of the map and one had no line at all.

  “What is it?” asked Annie with her arms still crossed.

  “A map,” said Terrence.

  “I can see that. What’s it a map of?”

  “We don’t really know,” said Jared. “But what I have learned through my studies is, firstly, that this is a very old map. It predates any copy of The Book of The Holy that I have ever seen. Also, I know that some of the most ancient tribes of Ephanlarea used to believe that eagle feathers marked some sort of passage into the spirit world.” At this point, Jared looked at Annie’s earrings. “But I wonder if you didn’t already know that.”

  “I didn’t,” said Annie. “It’s just coincidence.”

  Jared arched an eyebrow, but didn’t speak of Annie’s earrings any further. “Now I don’t really believe that this is a map that will lead into some sort of spirit realm, but I think it is pretty safe to say, that if we can find these locations, we will also find information about the Ancients. This could be a map of hidden temples or something. Finding whatever it is that lies in these locations could very well lead us to the Ancients.”

  Now it was Annie’s turn to raise her eyebrow at Jared. “Where did you find this map?”

  “The map was locked away in a vault, deep in the annals of Nefas. I liberated it.”

  “You like that word, don’t you?” asked Terrence.

  Jared merely shrugged.

  Annie wasn’t done with questions. “Why was an ancient relic locked in a vault, deep in a kingdom that would deem that sort of thing as blasphemy? Wouldn’t they destroy it? They would kill anyone who they found in possession of that map.”

  “Exactly,” said Jared with excitement. “It has to be legitimate in some way, or they never would have kept it. It has to lead to something that they don’t want anyone to know about.”

  “So, let me get this straight,” said Annie nodding. “Terrence, you want to find your cousins, but don’t have a clue where they might be.” Terrence shrugged and nodded. “Jared, you have an ancient map that we know nothing about, and you want us to follow its vague direction to find… well… we don’t know.”

  Jared shrugged and nodded. “Do you have a better idea?”

  Annie lifted her hood back over her spiky hair and laid herself out on the floor, resting her head on her bag like it was a pillow. “I’m going to sleep, and then, in the morning, I’m traveling to a mountain that stands alone in the middle of a forest to the southeast of here.”

  “And our plans are vague?” scoffed Terrence.

  “Do you still doubt the visions I have?” asked Annie with an air of superiority.

  Once again, Jared and Terrence were left with nothing to say.

  Jared shook his head and pulled his own hood over his eyes, resting his back against a wall. “My father always told me to beware women and their dreaming. Look at me now.”

  Terrence blew out the candles and the three fugitives took their separate paths to the world of sleep.

  Chapter 9: You Are Not a Slave To This

  “You’re still using your powers independently of each other. You have to allow them to coexist.”

  “You make it sound so easy,” grunted Evercloud as he picked himself up off of the floor for the tenth time.

  “Just hold it in your mind for a moment,” continued Iolana. “You control wind and you control fire. These are both basic elements of the world. They already coexist; they want to work together. Hold in your mind the movement of air up against your body, while at the same time, see that air being heated. You almost have it, Evercloud. You just need to keep your concentration locked onto your task.”

  “Okay, one more time, but if I can’t do it this time, I’m taking a break.”

  Evercloud and Iolana had been working in the castle courtroom for days now. Iolana’s powers had come back to her as easily as if she had never forgotten them. Evercloud had made great sacrifice for her by inflicting wounds upon himself. Iolana was able to heal them with ease every time, and most importantly, she never forgot who she was. Iolana was also able to draw water out of any object that possessed moisture. They had started, one morning, with something simple like a block of cheese, and by the end of the day, Iolana was able to draw moisture from the stone walls around them. Evercloud lifted the dried cheese to his mouth as Iolana wrinkled her nose at him.

  “Right,” said Evercloud. “Probably won’t taste good.”

  Iolana was also able to control the physical presence of water. She and Evercloud had created a game, where Iolana would sit in the center of the room with a bowl of water in front of her while Evercloud woul
d run, as fast as he could, in different patterns around the room. Iolana was able, without fail, to make the water leap from the bowl and hit Evercloud. After only an hour of playing the game, Evercloud was soaked from head to toe. He walked, dripping, up to Iolana, who was still sitting on the floor, and she could not help but laugh at his sorry state.

  “You win,” Evercloud said with a smile.

  On a separate occasion, Iolana and Evercloud had walked into the forest around Gray Mountain for a different game. Evercloud would do his best to hide from Iolana, in whatever way he could, and she would reach out with her senses to find him. Again, the game proved to be little challenge for Iolana, her perception was keen. Not only could she sense Evercloud, but she could sense other living things in the forest as well. Animals, bugs, even some of the trees gave off an energy that Iolana recognized unmistakably.

  “I feel like I’m a part of everything,” she said with a profound serenity. “It feels…right.” Iolana was again one with the creatures she had helped to create.

  Evercloud sat back against a tree as the realization hit him. He had never really imagined what this day would be like. His journey was far from over, but this was a measure of success he had only dreamed of. This is more normal than I thought it would be, he thought. But maybe that’s why it’s good. It’s simple. Iolana is right. This feels as it should.

  As well as Iolana was acclimating to her old self, Evercloud’s new self was proving to be a tougher puzzle. Evercloud’s ability to use the air and move through the air was powerful. He was able to extinguish a torch from the opposite end of the courtroom, and in a flash, run to the torch and reignite it. And although he was also able to use fire with his hands, his abilities had not moved past this point. Iolana had counseled him that his greatest abilities would come from the cooperation of the two elements. She had pointed out to him that he needed to find a harmony between them.

  This had been easier said than done. While Evercloud was able to use the wind to extinguish a torch, it had taken him three full days of work before he was able to use both the wind and flame to reignite the torch from across the room. Now, Iolana had him trying something far more difficult. She wanted Evercloud to use wind and fire to propel himself through the air. Iolana had reasoned that if Evercloud moved the air around his body, just so, while heating it rapidly, he would effectively be able to fly. Unfortunately, Evercloud had only succeeded in throwing himself into walls and onto the ground. He had been unable to sustain the effect of flying for anything more than a burst. His best success, to this point, had shot his body ten feet into the air only to come crashing down upon the courtroom floor.

  A loud knock came from the entrance to the courtroom, just as Evercloud again tried to concentrate on flying. The sharp rapping against the wooden door caused him to lose focus, and once more, fall to the floor with a new set of bruises as a reward for his effort.

  “Almost,” said Iolana, trying to be encouraging. “You were really close that time.”

  Evercloud grunted and lifted himself off of the ground, stomping across the courtroom to see whom he could blame his injuries on. The man flung the heavy, wooden door open as if it were light as a sack of feathers and barked at the unsuspecting visitors. “What?!”

  Both Dean and Prudence stood, apologetically, just outside the courtroom, and Dean paused cautiously before stammering:

  “Uh, s-sorry. We wondered if the two of you might like to join us for a bite to eat? But we should not have interrupted you.”

  “No. I’m sorry,” said Evercloud, realizing his bumps and bruises were nobody’s fault but his own. “I didn’t mean to be so rude. We would love some food.”

  Dean and Prudence both brightened, just as Iolana reached the door to greet them with a smile.

  “Good timing,” commended Iolana. “We needed a break from… our discussion.”

  “Well, follow us then,” said Dean, and he and Prudence led the way down the hall, with Evercloud and Iolana a few paces behind.

  “Why are people always friendlier when you’re around?” asked Evercloud.

  Iolana smiled slyly and answered, “maybe they’re just less friendly when you are.”

  •••

  Iolana, Evercloud, Dean and Prudence took seats at a table in the dining hall, after each grabbing themselves a plate of food from the castle cooks. The dining hall was fairly empty, as it was late for a midday meal. Dean brushed a lock of red hair back from his forehead and tore into a small loaf of bread. Before the bread reached his mouth, Dean paused and looked at Evercloud, whose mouth was watering over a hot bowl of potato stew.

  “You will have to forgive me, Evercloud,” said Dean. “I understand that you are very busy with your plans, but I wonder why you have not spoken with Steven since you have come to the castle?”

  Evercloud furrowed his brow and looked up from his plate. Iolana paid the question no mind, instead giving her attention to a large, green apple. Prudence looked at Dean with an obvious scowl. She shot darts from her eyes that conveyed the obvious question, why would you anger him? Evercloud noticed her displeasure, and for the first time, it occurred to him that he was someone to be feared.

  “I am sorry,” said Evercloud quickly, feeling uncomfortable with the idea that Dean and Prudence might fear him. “I had intended to…I still intend to. Time has gotten away from me.”

  The relief on Prudence’s face was evident.

  “Do not apologize,” said Dean. “I only bring it up because he leaves tonight for…well, we don’t know how long. Your words might do him great good.”

  “He leaves?” asked Evercloud. “For where?”

  “Chreos,” answered Dean. “It is a kingdom of men that lies in the northwest of Ephanlarea. We have received ill news from those reaches. Steven has decided that the area is ripe for finding those who would support our cause.”

  “Is there danger?”

  “For any man who wishes to have a life that is his own…Yes.”

  “I will make a point to see him before he leaves,” said Evercloud. “At the very least, I owe him an apology.”

  “Thank you, Evercloud.” Dean nodded with sincerity.

  “I should apologize to the two of you as well,” continued Evercloud. “It was strange to see the mountain changed. I was accustomed to being the only human among the bears. I did not react in the way I would have liked to. Also, I should have taken company with you before now. I have been rude to wait so long.”

  “No apology is needed,” said Dean. “We understand how odd this is. It has all been very odd for us as well.”

  “How is it that the two of you came to be on the mountain?” asked Evercloud.

  “Well,” began Dean. “Prudence and I were born and raised in the Kingdom of Nefas, which lies along the southeastern coast of Ephanlarea. I suppose the quick of it is that we didn’t approve of the culture that is fostered in Nefas. You see, Nefas is obsessed with beauty, and beauty can be a fine thing, but obsession is obsession nonetheless. Often, when you become obsessed with one thing, you allow yourself to lose track of everything else. You can lose track of things that are very important.

  “The men of Nefas are obsessed with possession of beauty, namely the possession of beautiful women, and from a young age, the women are taught how to become the objects of desire. On both sides of the coin, obtaining beauty is the imperative at all costs. All virtues and responsibilities are thrown to the wayside for the pursuit. Men will lie and cheat each other for riches with which to woo the company of beautiful women, and the women…”

  “They are parasites,” added Prudence with venom on her breath. For the first time, Evercloud and Iolana saw the normally taciturn woman come out of her shell and speak with passion and authority. “They are causing the downfall of Nefas. Beauty is all that matters to them, and they will torture their bodies for it, deny themselves nutrition, cake layers of makeup upon their faces, apply chemicals to their hair, even lie about in the sunlight for the purposes o
f tanning their flesh.”

  “They tan themselves?” asked Evercloud in disbelief.

  “Yes. It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? In Nefas, it is a common part of the culture. A woman without a proper tan is looked down upon.”

  “The men can be just as bad,” added Dean. “They perpetuate the ridiculous standards of beauty, and some of them adhere to them as well. They have grown so myopic, they cannot see how ludicrous they are.”

  “At least the men have continued to make themselves useful,” started Prudence again. “The worst part is that many of the women have become so obsessed with beauty as a value that they have ceased to have any meaning and purpose in the society at all. Many women of Nefas are a burden on society. They could not cook themselves a meal if they had to. They are not intelligent, they have no talents valuable to a society; they are useless. Women in Nefas actually consider it a hobby to spend their gold. It is not uncommon for women in Nefas to have many decorative pairs of shoes and handbags. In fact, these items can be seen as a status symbol.”

  “You’re pulling our legs,” insisted Iolana. “This is unbelievable. Do you mean to tell me that women in Nefas are happy to waste their lives away while the men rule the society?”

  “That’s the thing,” said Prudence. “It is the women who hold all the power. The men are subservient to their beauty. They are slaves to it. Even our ruler, Queen Faedra, holds her position on the power of her beauty. She possesses no talents or ingenuity; she holds no ability to govern a kingdom. Nefas suffers for its obsession. It is sad and pathetic to me. We didn’t want to support it any longer.”

  “So you came to the mountain?” asked Evercloud.

  “No,” answered Dean. “Prudence and I met when we were younger. Our displeasure with what we saw in society caused us to join a group who we thought shared our contempt. This group would meet and discuss the problems Nefas faced, and what each of us could do, in our own lives, to change things. At first, the group seemed empowering. We dressed in a fashion that harkened to an older time in Nefas. We saw it as a rebellion of sorts; open distaste for all to see. We thought it was a way to condemn the society we saw around us while paying tribute to a time when life was better. However, as time passed, we realized that we were merely hypocrites. The members of our group were far more concerned with outdoing each other’s rebellious wardrobes than exacting any real change. We realized that the group was merely a different side of the same tarnished society. We were no different than anyone else in Nefas. Well…that’s not true. We were worse, because we knew better, yet did nothing.