by Tracy Lane
He could feel the sisters, psychically linked, and he nodded to them, each in turn, testing his theory.
“Esmeralda!” they shrieked, one after the other, voices echoing in the giant Oracle’s ears. “Esmeralda!”
Kronos smiled.
Or, rather, Esmeralda smiled.
Only when he was sure his ruse was working did he turn to face the pesky mortals, if only for the last time. Kayne, white cloak seeming to glow in the dim swamp light, pitifully extending the orb as if it was a mere piece of fruit, to be chewed and swallowed and thought of no more.
Aurora, the pitiful girl in her ragged clothes and greasy hair, reaching for his hand as hers trembled in the Oracle Swamp. A human man, raggedy and old, little more than an insect with skin and two legs as he stood, out of place and out of time. And a ghostly presence, hovering at their side, no doubt one of the lost souls from the Sacred Forest, doomed to wander for all eternity.
He chuckled to himself, hearing his voice through Esmeralda’s massive tongue. If the oracles themselves couldn’t sense his presence, how could this motley crew of misfits dare hope to foil his elaborate plan to take back the orb and seize power in Ythulia, once and for all?
42
Kayne watched closely as Esmeralda regarded them. She had been studying them carefully one minute, then seemed disoriented the next. Her giant eyes, once so clear and wise, seemed hazy and, then, suddenly… bemused.
She paused, limbs heavy and fat by her side, limp, as if she’d suddenly gone to sleep. Then, suddenly awakened, she blinked, smiled ruefully and looked around as if seeing the swamp, the cauldron, and Kayne himself for the very first time.
Her sisters, awaiting some kind of signal from their wise and beloved sister, turned to Esmeralda 1 for a sign. She gave it to them in the form of a wicked cackle, full of danger and mirth, before turning to regard Kayne and the others.
He shivered momentarily, a surge of fear – and more – passing through his body.
“Grab my hand,” he whispered to Aurora without turning to face her. Esmeralda was still cackling, her large hands rubbing themselves in triumph.
“What?” she asked, preoccupied with the Oracles as well and staring up at Esmeralda’s dangling dreadlocks.
“Take. My. Hand.” He hissed through clenched teeth, hoping to escape Esmeralda’s penetrating glare.
Aurora nodded, reaching for his fingers. He could feel her power, instantly, and stronger than before. He almost believed – no, he knew – that she was finding a special power of her own.
Maybe by now she was even more powerful than he. Still, he knew that whatever sorcery had compelled him to react was more powerful than the two of them alone.
Only together, merged, desperate, scared and angry, could they defeat the presence that had invaded the Land of Morgis. Invisible though it might be, he could sense it all around.
Could she?
“Here, boy,” said Esmeralda sweetly, towering above them, the ghastly green mist from the bubbling cauldron highlighting the shadows in her eyes.
Her voice was the same, ragged and loud. It was only her eyes, now dark and hooded, that seemed to have changed.
“Give me the Orb and lay your burden down,” she insisted, one massive hand reaching over the bubbling cauldron. “You’ve shouldered its weight too long already!”
“Give us the Orb!” thundered Esmeralda 2.
“Shouldered its weight!” mimicked Esmeralda 3.
Kayne nodded dutifully, drawing Aurora closer still. He could feel their power growing with every moment, the crackle of electricity sizzling between their joined fingers as he reached desperately for her with his free hand.
“Your wish…” he said, the Orb glowing in his left hand even as Aurora clutched his right with a sudden, sizzling crackle of power.
But instead of complying with the Oracle’s wish he bowed, hiding their hands and sizzling power amidst the folds of his squire’s cloak as he spoke the words:
“Dastardly evil, reveal thyself.
Show your face, though hidden,
Reveal your soul, though cloaked.
Show yourself to me,
And receive your just rewards…”
Immediately upon finishing his spell Aurora’s hand crackled to life under his cloak. She gasped and he looked, watching as Esmeralda shimmered before them. Like the ghosts back in the Sacred Forest, suddenly Esmeralda wavered between mist and human.
But it was no Oracle he saw in the mist, but the dark mage Kronos himself.
“How did you… who is that?” Aurora asked, clutching his fingers tighter and revealing more of the dark mage with each surge of their powerful, magical chemistry.
Shimmering between forms, loosed from the bloodstream of his helpless minion, Kayne saw his worst fears come to life: in the mist, Kronos stood, cackling, smiling, none the wiser as his giant hand reached for the Orb, glowing orange in all of its mystical majesty.
Kayne despaired, the Orb in one hand, Aurora’s power in the next. What could he do now?
“The orb, boy,” said Kronos as Esmeralda, smiling perversely, the sound of Esmeralda’s female voice disconcerting coming from the dark mage’s bearded lips. “Hurry, before darkness finds you in this place of light.”
“The cauldron,” Aurora said, hands glowing brighter than ever before. “Throw the Orb in the cauldron. He can’t get it there.”
Kayne smiled, turning toward her.
“Boy,” cackled Esmeralda once more, as the shimmering image of Kronos flickered away. Then he came back, more powerful than before, his dark eyes aglow with rage.
“Boy!” he commanded, through the giant Oracle’s massive mouth. “Give. Me. That. Orb!”
“Your wish,” Kayne said again, smiling behind his cloak, “is my command!”
With that he raised the Orb, high enough overhead to propel it as far as he needed it to go. Releasing it, the Orb sailed through the air, turning end over end, glowing brighter with each revolution.
“NO!” bellowed Esmeralda, now so filled with Kronos’ rage that it was his voice sailing through her lips, and no longer the mighty Oracle’s. “No”
The Orb found the cauldron, bubbling and green, its orange sphere disappearing beneath the bellowing, glowing mist as magic met magic and Kronos bellowed, his spirit leaving Esmeralda as a ray of light shot from her mouth, filling the Land of Morgis with a bright, blinding light.
43
Iragos fluttered through the Land of Morgis, wings a vibrant hue of green and red, a verdant blend of the natural colors that existed only in this magical, mystical place.
His form was not powerful, but he was here, he felt, at the end of a journey that would determine which side took power of the universe: the dark mages, or the light.
It was only blind luck that he’d arrived here at all. He’d seen the Hooters high above the Smoldering Mountains and watched as Kronos followed them, in Stinger form, up to and over the hidden opening in the highest mountain peak.
He’d fluttered as fast and as far as he could, using the downdraft of the mountain’s own atmosphere to stay close to Kronos’ winged form. When at last they penetrated the Sacred Forest and emerged, camouflaged, in the Land of Oracles, Iragos saw the Orb at last.
He nearly revealed his true self, he was so relieved to see it in safe hands, glowing and unaltered by Kronos’ dark magic. He’d followed the dark mage for days, wandering the woods Below and hoping he wouldn’t be too late to find Kayne and his traveling companions.
And now here they were, all together. Iragos panicked, wondering how he might rescue the orb. Kronos was powerful, and no more so than in possession of the orb. If the dark mage were to somehow take possession of the orb before Iragos, there would be no stopping him.
And all that stood between him now were Kayne and his mortal sidekicks, a young girl and an old man. But no, at the fringes a ghost lingered, powerless and bored, restless and hovering at the periphery. Then, of course, the oracles were there
, but could they not see Kronos, buzzing around their flowing dreadlocks?
No, they couldn’t! Too late Iragos realized that the Oracles could only divine a magical presence when the mage was in his own physical form, not having possessed the form of another.
He watched, aghast, as Kronos took his plan to another level, invading the body of Esmeralda, the oracle herself. Council laws forbade inhabiting the body of another Enchanted, but then what Council law hadn’t Kronos broken in his search for the Orb?
Iragos fumed, fluttering nearby, wishing he could reveal himself to Kayne and Aurora, if only to assure them not all hope was lost. But wasn’t it? In Esmeralda’s form, it was only a matter of time before an unsuspecting Kayne handed over the orb, innocently and unwittingly aiding Kronos in his master plan to seize it for himself.
Iragos swirled, fluttering, knowing he couldn’t aid Kayne in his present form. But how could he return to his light mage self and not be seen by Kronos?
He fluttered, and fluttered, and fluttered some more, watching as Kayne and Aurora clutched hands. How desperate they must be, he thought, hovering near the simmering cauldron.
How… but what was this?
Together, hands touching, their power sizzled. Iragos saw it, plain as day, their hands joined and a power ball grew between their fingers. No wonder she could see Ythulia!
She was enchanted herself!
Perhaps, if he hid in the cauldron’s mist, he could return to his mage self and help the two teens outwit, even overpower, Kronos. He fluttered, then dipped and dived, realizing it was his only – perhaps even his last – chance.
44
Aurora watched as Kronos emerged from hiding within the giant Oracle known as Esmeralda. As the giant staggered, bemused and bewildered, only to fall to her knees at his back, Kronos poured from between her lips, a white, hot and blinding syrup of flowing energy soon to reveal itself as a man.
He appeared, inch by inch, directly at her feet. Legs formed, then a torso, then long arms, all whirling in a swirling maroon cloak that hid his shimmering hair but not his wiry black beard and hawkish, wizened face that leered at her with a triumphant smile.
“Children!” he spat, stumbling around the cauldron, hands disappearing into the mist in search of the mighty Orb, rising and covered by green, swirling smoke each time it eluded his grasp.
“You fools! Do you know what you two have done—”
His hand sizzled to life, crackling with a power the likes of which Aurora had never seen before. In reply, the Orb rose from the cauldron, hovering in mid-air as it streamed toward Kronos’ hands.
“Stop!” Kayne called, reaching for Aurora’s fingers. “We can’t let him possess the Orb!”
They raced ahead, instinctively, peppering the air with a massive power ball of their own, intercepting Kronos’ magic and sending the Orb rolling onto the ground.
“You fools!” Kronos erupted, turning on them in his rage. His face was a twisted mask of violence, eyes as black as his deep, dark beard. “How dare you interfere with my destiny?”
His rage, their fear, only intensified Aurora and Kayne’s entwined courage. Power leapt from their fingertips, zapping Kronos as he stood, summoning a lethal fireball of his own creation.
She could feel its heat even as their hands spat talons of electric light, like giant fingers exploding through the air. They reached not for Kronos, but the Orb, as if Aurora and Kayne could share their thoughts and act as one.
The Orb rose, high above the misty swamp floor, inching toward them as Kronos let loose with another raging fireball. It soared toward them, closer, closer, so close Aurora winced at the heat, when suddenly it froze in mid-air.
Aurora looked to find another mage standing in the cauldron, silver hair writhing around his head.
“Iragos!” Kayne cried, helping the man out of the cauldron and onto his feet. “Where did you come from?”
“The same place as you,” admitted Iragos, gray hair swirling around his head as he used his free hand to conjure another blue sphere of light. “I’ve been searching far and wide for—”
Just then a bolt of fire struck Iragos on the shoulder, hurling him into the nearest tree. Kayne and Aurora, having summoned the Orb, felt the wrath of Kronos as he advanced on them.
Eyes raging and black, shoulders broad and powerful, he held a ball of flame in each outstretched hand.
“One for each of you,” he promised, seeing Aurora’s nervous eyes fall upon them. “Unless, that is, you give. Me. That. Orb!”
His voice shrieked, making Aurora flinch with its power and venom. The momentary lapse sent the Orb dipping lower, lower, as her power ebbed.
“Aurora!” Kayne spat, electricity flowing from his lips as their power surged. “Focus!”
“Too late, boy!” Kronos spat, sending a fireball at the Orb and sending it flying toward the ground. But it never landed, the ghostly form of Sharazam intercepting its certain trajectory.
Without missing a beat, Kronos sent a fireball straight at her ghostly face. But, just as it was about to turn her into a living campfire, Sharazam’s body flickered, turning ghostlier than ever as the ball of power sailed right through her – then sailed past her – turning the nearest tree into a pile of swampy kindling.
“Catch!” she said, tossing the Orb to Aurora. Kayne caught it, snatching it from the air even as Kronos turned, spying him and cursing him at the same time.
“No more games, boy!” he shouted, inching forward through the swampy mist as Kayne and Aurora instinctively backed up.
“Give me the Orb, boy,” he threatened but, instead of finishing, drew Aurora to him with a powerful spell. She felt her feet leave the ground before her body flew to him, with no control of her own. A crackling ball of fire formed in his free hand as he lifted Aurora off the ground with the other. “Or she dies, right here.”
“Kronos!” Iragos spat, arms extended, a worried look on his face as Aurora struggled for breath. “Release the girl, this isn’t her fight.”
“She made it her fight,” Kronos declared, holding her higher until Iragos stood in place. “When she joined my squire in bringing the Orb to the Land of Morgis.”
Kayne nodded, muttering, shifting the Orb to his left hand as he held the other up in supplication. “Here, here Kronos,” he said, walking forward carefully. “Just… let her go. I’ll give you the Orb, just as you wish.”
“Bring it here, boy,” Kronos growled, fingers clenching Aurora’s throat so tightly she thought she might faint. “No more games, no more words, no more tricks.”
“Yes, yes,” Kayne said, so close they could almost touch. He held the Orb aloft in one hand as, with the other, he sent a message of surrender, extending it blankly, so close to Aurora she could… that’s it.
He wanted her to touch it! She reached out, extending her fingers as far as they could go. When at last the two met, it was too late for Kronos to move and disrupt the majesty of their enchantment.
The power jolted through them, all of them, sending her flying from Kronos’ grip, sending Kronos flying toward the cauldron and the Orb flying into the air.
It was an explosion neither Kayne nor Aurora could control, but neither could Kronos. She fell into the mist, rubbing her head as she sat up, Kayne lying a few feet away. She looked up, gasping, to find Kronos on his feet, advancing on them once again.
When will this end? she wondered, struggling to one knee as she prepared to meet her fate, no matter how grim.
Suddenly a violent explosion interrupted the dark mage’s progress, sending Kronos staggering into a tree stump and onto his side. He lay, smothered in his cloak as Iragos strode through the mist, clutching the Orb in his hand, a triumphant look on his face.
Behind them, Esmeralda 1 rose, with the aid of her giant sisters, clutching her head. “What just happened?” she asked, drowsy and heavy lidded.
“What happened?”
“What happened?”
“I’m afraid you were enchant
ed,” said Iragos, turning to Kronos.
The dark mage rose, carefully, hands in front of himself in surrender. The Orb glowed so brilliantly orange it hurt Aurora’s eyes to look upon it. “No, Iragos, I beg you, take pity—”
Iragos approached him, Orb glowing a bright, violent orange as he held it in one hand. In the other, growing with every step, was a matching orange ring of power around his free hand.
“How dare you use the word ‘pity,’ Kronos?” the light mage spat, the hem of his marvelous maroon cloak swirling around his feet much as his silver gray hair flew around his noble head.
“You have done nothing but use your power for evil since I’ve known you. In all our time in Ythulia you have never once done a noble, kind or considerate act.”
Iragos turned to Kayne, busy helping Aurora up, and pointed his glowing hand in their direction before turning back to Kronos.
“In all the training of your squire, you have never imbued in poor Kayne an ounce of charity, light or goodwill. And yet it was he who realized the wickedness of your ways, who stole the orb from you, its would-be master, and secreted it away from all of Ythulia to try and hide it from your power.”
“And what of it?” spat Kronos, kneeling now, inching to stand in front of Iragos. “What is a dark mage if he’s not dark, Iragos? Would you have me cower before the Council, daily, shunning my own powers of darkness?”
Iragos shook his head, his marvelous hair shimmering around his skull. “There is a need for dark powers, Kronos. A need your fellow dark mages on the Council seem to understand, while you do not. In times of darkness, darkness is called upon. When that time comes, Kronos, your friends will be of use yet. But in times of light, as we are in now, then the balance rests with the light.”
Kronos shook his head, moving his hands. “Thanks for the history lesson, Iragos. But I tire of your lectures. Do with me what you will.”