The Map Maker's Quest

by Matthew J. Krengel

  “Perfect shot,” Jackie said. Still she felt horrible as she watched the massive explosion of dirt and stone that sent Adherents flying and rolling in all directions. The next hour was filled with chaos and confusion for the Adherent forces. They were caught in the open ground between the smaller force holding the walls and the larger force attacking downhill.

  Carvin watched as Tasker took full advantage of the confusion and pushed his forces down the hill until they had regained the defensive line at the base of the hill. From there the Adherent army was caught in the open and took horrible losses as they fled north.

  “We’re going to lose them,” Jackie said. The Adherents were out of range to the north, and she guessed they had lost two-thirds of their numbers. Still, these were well-disciplined soldiers, and they stopped running the moment they were out of range and began to dig into their own defensive positions.

  “No, we’re not,” Carvin said suddenly. A great smile covered his face as he pointed to the south, “Look who’s coming to join the fight.”

  A flash of red and a shadow on the ground and suddenly the great scaled body of Yardarva flashed by the walls. The dragon circled the Adherents once, blasting great gouts of fire against their flanks. Still the Adherents tried to rally and volley after volley of energy shots rose into the air and forced the mighty dragon to pull back to where Tasker and his force watched.

  Then the ground began to shake, and the last member of their force walked slowly into view. Jackie cheered wildly and grabbed Carvin. Together they spun in a circle and danced when the stone giant walked by their position on the wall. This last addition to the battle was simply too much for the Adherents. An audible groan rose up from their positions, and immediately the flanks of the army began to flee. At first, in small groups and in random directions, they ran northwards as fast as they could. Many of them threw down their muskets and repeaters as they ran. Entire groups tore their black robes off and threw themselves on the ground as they surrendered.

  “We did it,” Jackie said. She stood next to Carvin holding his hand and watching as the rebel force flooded off the hill and began taking the prisoners into custody.

  “Yes, we did,” Carvin replied. He put his arm around her and sighed, for the first time in many years he was truly happy. He didn’t know how long the moment would last so he closed his eyes and savored it. Then a moment later the peace was gone, and thoughts of Jane and Jacob rushed back to him.

  “Let’s get back to the castle and find Jane,” Jackie insisted. Suddenly a huge explosion of power seemed about to pull asunder the Divide itself. A great wall of darkness rose into the air and flickered for a moment. Then it slowly receded, and the world grew calm again.

  “I’m sure she’s fine,” Carvin said quietly to Jackie. He put his arm around her again. Together they walked from the city walls. With a popping sound, Tasker and Puck appeared atop the walls and joined them.

  “Where’s Jane?” Tasker asked.

  “She and the others went after Cain,” Jackie said.

  “The fools,” Tasker blustered. “They should have waited for me.”

  “What happened just now?” Jackie asked.

  “I don’t know, but it felt like someone tried to destroy the Divide and failed,” Tasker said.

  The four of them hurried back towards the castle not knowing what they would find, but each harboring fears of what had happened.

  * * * * *

  Jane and Jacob led Flying Cloud and Bella towards the castle. Jane glanced back and watched for a moment as Jackie and the others cleared the gate, but then she turned back to the task at hand. Cain was likely inside the castle somewhere, and she wanted to stop him at all cost. The front gates of the castle were unguarded. That fact made her a little nervous. The castle itself was built of almost white colored granite, and the walls were polished until they gleamed.

  “See anything?” Jacob whispered. He was standing directly behind Jane next to the main gate of the castle, and all was silent. Bella was crouched on his shoulder, and she tapped his ear.

  “Put me down,” Bella said. “I can go scout much easier then you can.”

  Jacob let her down carefully on the ground, “Be careful, Bella.”

  “I will,” Bella responded. She waved her hand at them and then slipped through the crack in the door and was gone.

  They waited for ten minutes according to Jacob’s watch. Just when he was about to kick the door open and run in screaming a battle cry, Bella returned.

  “What did you see?” Jane asked.

  “Cain is in the throne room,” Bella said breathlessly. “He has four guards with him, all armed with those repeating guns. Cain has some sort of great machine set up in the middle of the throne room, and he’s talking to himself and working on it.”

  “Odd,” Jane muttered. “His army is locked in a battle just outside his own city and he ignores what’s happening.”

  “Maybe, he’s truly gone insane,” Flying Cloud said. She crouched alongside the door across from them and shrugged.

  “I don’t know if he was ever sane to begin with,” Jane said. “Well, let’s go inside and see what we find.”

  She nudged the door open slowly and stepped into the front entrance of the castle. The grand entry was filled with banners hanging from the walls sporting the Adherent symbol. A few torches added a bit of light to what entered the room naturally, and Jane looked both directions. The halls were empty. The only thing she could see was the occasional movement of the banners in the wind.

  “Over there,” Bella whispered. She pointed to a grand set of doors slightly ajar across the great hall from them. “They are all inside.”

  They crossed the entrance room as quietly as a quartet of mice, and Jacob glanced through the doors to the throne room. Stationed along the wall near them were four Adherents in black robes but they were all facing into the room. None of them saw him and so he stepped back and adjusted his view. In the middle of the throne room was a massive machine that kind of reminded him of the device that had opened the gate through the Divide.

  On the floor all around the room were hundreds if not thousands of books. Many with pages ripped out and scattered across the polished tiles.

  “The guards are clustered off to the left of the door,” Jacob whispered. He motioned for Jane and Flying Cloud to use their repeaters. “Might as well stun them.”

  Jane and Flying Cloud checked the settings on their weapons and then slowly pushed the door open until they had a clear view of the guards. One of them men turned and looked at the door just as the two girls stepped into the opening and pulled the triggers. Jane let four blasts leave her gun before she let off on the trigger. Flying Cloud held hers down for a moment later, and soon all four men lay on the floor twitching.

  “Give it up, Cain,” Jane shouted. She ducked as a smaller blast of energy flew by them and splattered against the wall. “You’re done. Your army is finished and you can’t hope to stay in power.”

  “Bah, girl,” Cain retorted. He was standing next to a control panel making connections with one hand while the other hand held a pistol aimed at the door. “What do you know of power.I’ve seen things you can’t comprehend. I’m doing things that will shape the future of both our worlds for a millennium into the future. You have not defeated me. My dynasty will last a thousand years.”

  Jane stared at Cain in amazement. Bits of spittle flew from his mouth as he screamed and shouted. She ducked as he triggered the pistol again, but the energy ball was weak, and she knew the charge in his gun was failing.

  “Charge him, Jacob,” Jane urged. “Use your shield, his gun’s almost dead.”

  Jacob rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. “Drag me out of the way if he hits my legs.” Jacob gave them a lopsided grin and then charged forward with his shield held before him. He felt the first ch
arge slam into his shield, but Jane was right, the pistol was weak. He was half way across the room when he risked glancing over the shield. Suddenly his eyes widened. Cain pulled a second pistol from behind the metal console and pointed it at him.

  “This is gonna hurt,” Jacob muttered. He ducked his head just the dwarf fired both shots. The rounds struck his shield with the force of a sledge hammer, and he stumbled to the ground right in front of the console.

  Jane had charged behind Jacob and fired around his shield twice, but the shots went wild since she was sprinting. When Jacob collapsed in a heap in front of her, she was exposed. She raised the repeater and squeezed the trigger. Amazingly Cain dropped both of his pistols and slammed his fist down on the controls in front of him.

  Immediately a blast of energy sent both Jane and Jacob tumbling away. Flying Cloud was crouched behind a pillar with Bella and they were shielded from the initial blast. Bella risked looking around the corner and noticed that Jane was weakly trying to rise to her feet but she seemed disorientated. The console around Cain glowed brilliantly and seemed to be shielding him from the energy now rolling out over the room.

  Flying Cloud looked around the other side of the pillar and looked at the machine. It resembled a giant dish at least ten paces across. Energy cracked and arced across the surface, and she saw that it was black and inky. It seemed like the device was tearing at the fabric of the Divide, destroying it.

  “You can’t stop me now!” Cain screamed from where he stood. “The Divide will fall, and both worlds will come back together. Destruction and chaos will spread across the world, and I will forge a new nation. Stronger and better then the last.”

  Flying Cloud ignored what he was saying. She examined the dish where the energy was rolling out. She reached down and flipped the setting of her gun from stun to kill and then picked up a weapon from one of the unconscious guards and did the same. There was one more gun within reach, and she fished it over and set it to kill also.

  “Bella, can you pull the trigger on this if I lean it against the pillar and aim it for you,” Flying Cloud asked the fairy.

  “Yes,” Bella replied. She walked to where the gun was sitting and reached her tiny arms around the trigger. She would have to hug the handle in order to fire the gun but she knew she could do it.

  “Ready?” Flying Cloud asked.

  “Ready,” Bella responded.

  “Fire,” Flying Cloud said. At almost the same time all three guns went off, and a line of arcing bolts of energy cut across the room and struck the dish. The result was quick and catastrophic.

  “What are you doing!” Cain screamed. He grabbed his pistols and emptied the charges from both at the pillar.

  Flying Cloud ignored the blasts that struck the pillar and stubbornly held her repeaters trained on the device. Wafts of smoke and showers of sparks flew in all directions. One of the pistol shots glanced off the pillar and struck her leg. Flying Cloud stumbled to the ground but held her aim and continued pulling the trigger until the repeaters were empty. The dish-shaped device sputtered for a moment, and then a great ball of black energy rolled out of it and rocketed up into the air, blasting away the ceiling and vaporizing the debris before it could fall.

  With a final great tearing sound, the metal dish tore in half and fell to the ground while a fire erupted from the main part of the housing and a high-pitched whine began to build. Suddenly Jane and Jacob were at her side. They each looped an arm around her. Jacob scooped up Bella from where she had fallen, and they all limped out of the room and hurried towards the outer door. Behind them Cain shouted something. When Jane glanced back she saw a rain of chunks of stone falling into the room. One of them struck Cain in the head. He vanished as a great billowing explosion of fire and shredded metal erupted from the machine.

  “Duck!” Jane screamed. They lurched through the outer doors and dove off the side of the steps and into the shelter of the corner stone of the outer gates. The earth shook as a second explosion rattled the ground, and then a massive hand closed down around them and formed a protective cup. Jane was knocked unconscious as she was thrown against the stone giant’s hard hand and the darkness closed in around her.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Aftermath

  Jane awoke with a start and looked around. There was a bustle of activity, and suddenly Jacob’s smiling face looked down at her.

  “She’s awake,” Jacob called. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a great hug. “How are you feeling?”

  “Strange, sore, tired,” Jane blurted. She shrugged her shoulders and realized it hurt to move. “I feel like I’m one big bruise.”

  “Same here,” Jacob admitted. “I actually went and jumped in Lake Superior to help take the soreness away.”

  “Brr,” Jane laughed. “Got any Ibuprofen?”

  “Hold on,” Jacob said. He walked to a small table and picked up a jar Tasker had given him. “This helped more than the swim in the lake.”

  Jane took the jar from him and pulled the cap off. It stunk horribly, and she wrinkled her nose at the jar.

  “Trust me,” Jacob said. “Rub it anywhere that hurts, and in ten minutes the pain goes away.” He turned and stepped out of the room. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

  Jane followed his instructions. To her wonder within ten minutes she was up and moving around. The horrible bruises on her arms and legs were fading to yellow already, and her muscles felt re-invigorated. When she had used most of the jar, she pulled her clothes back on and laced her shoes up. The room she was in was made of stone, and the walls were washed with white paint. When she emerged from the room, Jackie was standing by a window looking outside, and Carvin was standing next to her with his hand around her waist. Bella was perched on the edge of the window sill, and she squealed when Jane stepped from the door.

  “Bella,” Jane said with a smile. She crossed to the fairy, picked her up, and gave her a great hug.

  “My wing started to move today,” Bella exclaimed happily. “It’s finally healing.”

  “Awesome,” Jane said happily. “So how long was I out?”

  “All night and about half of today,” Jacob said.

  “What happened?” Jane pressed.

  “I don’t know,” Jacob said. “The castle collapsed on everything. Puck and Tasker are digging it out slowly with help from the dwarves and the stone giant. They’ll have it opened up soon, and we will know if Cain managed to survive.”

  “What about the city?” Jane asked.

  “Half empty and half celebrating,” Jackie said happily. “Those people truly loyal to Cain are either gone or in hiding. The rest were so happy his rule’s over they threw the rebels a party that’s still going on.” As if on a cue a boisterous cheer rose from outside the window. Jane looked out to see dozens of people gathered around makeshift tables laden with food. There was singing, dancing, and a group of elves was playing a collection of instruments. Goblins were hauling in more food. She spotted the great scaled form of Yardarva sitting a street over and hoisting up children on her head and letting them slide down her tail as they laughed and screamed.

  Jane stepped outside onto the porch and spotted Flying Cloud sitting in a chair that was reclined back. The other girl was enjoying the sun, and she smiled at Jane.

  “How are you?” Jane asked.

  “My leg still tingles now and then, but I’m much better,” Flying Cloud answered. “I was more worried about you. The blow to the head was pretty hard.”

  Jane slipped into the chair beside and reclined into the backrest, “Oo, now this feels good.”

  “I thought so,” Flying Cloud agreed. They were silent for a few minutes but when Jacob, Jackie, and Carvin walked out on the porch. Flying Cloud looked at them and asked, “So what will you all do now?”

  “Go home,” Jane said immediately. She turned to Jac
ob.

  “Go home,” Jacob agreed.

  “Stay here,” Jackie said quietly.

  “What!” Jane exclaimed. “But!” She nearly jumped out of her chair as her sister’s words struck her.

  “Jane, I can come home to visit whenever I want to, remember?” Jackie said. She laughed and continued, “Besides everyone already thinks I’m dead. Less to explain this way.”

  Jane’s face fell. She hated the idea of being separated from her sister again, despite knowing she could visit with the aid of her map.

  “Well, I guess it won’t be that bad,” Jane muttered finally. “You get to try and convince mom though.” They sat on the porch watching the celebration go on around them until Jane felt good enough to move around. The rest of the afternoon they walked the city streets and laughed and smiled as the populace celebrated the end of Cain’s rule. That night everyone seemed to fall asleep as the sun went down and Jane’s exhausted sleep lasted until the next morning.

  “Jane,” Tasker whispered. He shook the girl’s shoulder and waited while she sat up and rubbed her face.

  “What is it?” Jane asked when she had gathered her wits.

  “I want to tell you something privately,” Tasker said. He motioned for her to follow him. Together they walked out the door. The city around them was filled with dim light as the sun slowly rose over the distant trees. Sparkling gems covered the water as the sun struck the waves and reflected brilliantly.

  Tasker led her to where the remains of the castle were located. They climbed the outer wall above the gate. He sat down on the edge of the stone ledge and motioned for her to sit next to him.

  “So what’s so important you needed to wake me up this early?” Jane asked finally. She fought back a yawn and rubbed her eyes until the sleep left them.