Jade was tired of their transparent subterfuges. Not one seemed to understand that Burl was more than some User’s Creation; they had such single path minds. She’d given up on being civil. “Why are you still speaking to the Brown, Cam? Send him on his way. I need to talk to you.”
Jade raised her voice just enough to be heard from where she sat in the little alcove, trying to read. Saddened and angered by the betrayal of his acolyte, Caven had shown them to the securer room the same evening. She’d found the nook with the stuffed bookshelves immediately. She read to ward off boredom, keep her mind off Dirk’s actions, and simply for the pleasure of it, something one could do alone.
Camoe was busy meeting with every monk in the monastery. Caven had sat in on many of the meetings, usually held in the room adjacent to the kitchen. At first Jade had felt left out, but the wondrous leather-bound books had stifled the feeling. Astura’s history was rich, with evil tyrants wielding dark powers and ancient wars lasting hundreds of years. The Dark Citadel is the farthest anyone had beaten back Virun.
Camoe’s reply drifted from the entrance doorway. “Perhaps we should give this one a few minutes. He claims to know how to end the experimentation attempts on our resident Dark Creation. His words, not mine.”
Jade looked up from the book titled The Dark Empire with more than a little reluctance. The chapter had detailed the violent shifts in power throughout User history in graphic detail. She’d discovered a reference to a codex called The Surbon Codex. The author—a renowned scholar and Light User—hinted at an adverse User erupting on the world causing untold destruction, eventually bringing an end to a war at great cost. Jade had some concerns. The codex failed to mention what war and which side it ended with, apparently it could shift either way. Right after, it mentioned an anomaly moving through the world at the same time, which may, or may not; affect the outcome of the chosen side. It was almost as if the book remained vague on purpose.
Folding the book over her hand to mark her place, Jade went to deal with the intrusion. Peering over Camoe’s shoulder, she gazed at the man standing with his arms folded into the wide sleeves of his tan robes. The material was lighter in color than the monk’s dark brown tunics or even the brown silken robes they so piously donned for daily rituals. Unlike the Brown Robes who had made such a nuisance of themselves, this one had left his hood hanging at his emaciated shoulders, exposing curly blond hair. The lack of a hood called attention to his gaunt face and dark, haunted eyes that had…seen things. “What do you want?” Jade demanded, in no mood for pleasantries.
A pained look crossed the man’s face. “May I enter? This open hallway provides an opportunity for an easy ambush. I don’t wish to have my backside shaved by a fledgling User.”
Jade wanted to trust him, but only at arm’s length. “You have one minute to convince me you can help. If not, you leave.”
Camoe flicked a glance at her, but said nothing.
Peering over Camoe’s shoulder, the man inclined his head. “Fair enough,” he said.
Camoe swung the door wider, but stayed blocking the threshold. “Step back first.”
The man complied.
Glancing both ways down the hall, Camoe finally stepped aside and motioned the man inside, closing the door on his heels.
“That’s far enough,” Camoe said. “We have never met, so I cannot vouch for you.”
“Let me correct that oversight. I am Vancid, at your service.” Not looking around, he stared at her. “Now let’s move onto why I’m here. Simply put, I wish to help you.”
Jade waited for him to continue with his explanation. When he didn’t, she asked, “You don’t know us, yet you offer aid. Tell me, what ‘services’ can you provide?”
“Ah-ha! Very astute questions, very astute, I say!” Vancid exclaimed, rubbing his hands together. Dropping them to his side, he stood still.
Something’s not right, Jade thought. For the first time since Dirk had tried to kill her, Jade switched her view to his aura.
Vancid’s spinning aura was cloudy and brackish, like much of the swamp water she’d waded through before Brown Recluse. Jade forced it slower. A blackness roiled behind the aura’s grayness, gaining power with each rotation, poised to break…through! “Camoe!” Jade cried, “he’s not what he seems!”
Vancid’s face darkened, his eyes bulged to grotesque spheres. The tan robe he wore bled into a dull black color, elongating to twice its size. A man-shaped darkness detached from Vancid, stepping out from him as one might discard soiled clothes. Vancid’s deflated form slid to the floor.
Jade screamed.
Camoe’s sword passed through the shadowy torso, lopping their wooden garment stand in half.
Jade’s mind lurched, slowing the scene around her. A single mahogany wood chip floated in the air, lazily striking the shadowy head then rebounded slowly away. Her mind shifted back, the chip fell away at a normal rate, but not her rising fear.
The light in the room bent around the murky shadow as it advanced toward her.
Jade backed away, filled with dread. The sense of the dark man floated through her awareness. A single touch meant death: its evil would replace her bone marrow with shadow as it absorbed the rest of her internal matrix, over time, feeding on organs and nerves until she became a dark one, a slave to a dark mind. No, more than a mind, an over mind. The same evil she’d sensed in the dominion wraith, and again at the wall, as it chased them into the swamp.
Camoe’s sword flashed, once, twice, diagonally from shoulder to pelvis, slashing a terrible crisscrossing pattern across the dark torso from behind, parting it like pitch-black smoke.
The swords pattern merged with the dark man, leaving no trace behind. The black shape slid toward her.
The small of her back rammed against a table, halting her backward momentum. The dark arms began to raise, to reach out.
The memory of the wood chip intruded into her mind. “Camoe!” she cried, leaning back. “Go for the head!”
The druid’s sword rent the shape’s head from ear to ear.
The dark man froze for less than a beat of her thumping heart as its head reformed. It reached out again.
Instinctively, Jade brought the book up in front of her like a shield. The shadowy hand touched the book and recoiled. Jade scrambled over the table, confused. The dark shape glided cautiously around the table, moving relentlessly toward her.
Slipping around the table to keep it between her and the dark man, Jade thought furiously, the book stopped it, yet Camoe’s sword to the head didn’t, why? A fraction later, it occurred to her, paper! The book was paper! Paper was a product made from wood. Why didn’t it like wood?
The black shape glided around the end of the table, coming for her.
Dropping the book on the table, she shoved the table with all her might.
The heavy table pinned the shadow to the wall, slicing through. Half of the dark man fell onto the table and fragmented into smoky filaments that soon dispersed.
Afraid of what she might see, Jade squatted, searching under the table. Nothing but normal shadows lay underneath. At least she hoped they were.
Straightening, she leaned on the table, touching its smooth texture with reverence. The wooden object had saved her life. The attack was odd, but devious, in an evil sort of way. What warrior would use wood as a weapon?
Camoe exhaled an explosive breath. “By the true power of the One, what was that thing?”
Suddenly Jade was tired, too tired to stand for long. Taking no chances, she sat on the table cross-legged, setting the book on her lap. “You’re asking me? Why was it after me? Why does everything and everyone seem to be after me?”
Camoe looked taken aback. He sheathed his sword with a soft clang. “I don’t know, but you are right, the darkest evil...”
Camoe’s voice faded away as a new voice rang in her mind. One she’d desperately wanted to hear for many, many days.
Jade Creek! Jade! Are you there? Crystalyn’s voice ca
lled out in her mind sounding clear, yet so far away.
Oh Crystalyn, it’s finally you!
Yes my Jade, it is me! Where are you?
I’m in the town of Brown Recluse waiting for Camoe to decide where we go next. I knew you’d find me!
Do you have a gateway there? Crystalyn asked someone else.
Jade was confused. Then a pleasant masculine voice echoed through her mind. I have a pair of obelisks within three days’ ride, the voice said. Command her to go to the Staunch the Flow Inn, inquire of the owner, Craight. Tell him the Great Lord requires a debt paid, he will provide the path here.
Did you hear all that, Jade?
Yes, but Crystalyn?
What is it?
Make haste! Your spell is dwindling! A new male voice said, sounding younger than the other one.
Where am I coming to? Jade asked.
To the Citadel, but we can talk about it when you get here. Go to the Staunch the Flow Inn, Crystalyn said her voice urgent.
You don’t mean the Dark Citadel, do you? Crystalyn you’re in great danger! Jade shouted into the recesses of her mind. Silence met her call. Crystalyn, are you there? No answer, her sister was gone. No! Crystalyn couldn’t have meant the Dark Citadel, could she? An involuntary shudder racked her bones. What would she do if Crystalyn were at the same horrid, evil place she’d fought so hard to escape? Would she go back after expending so much effort escaping from there?
She had no choice. She would do whatever it took to reunite with her sister, for them to go home, though she might be creating anxiety over nothing. There must be other citadels on the planet. Crystalyn could be in a different place, one without the evil.
Camoe eyed her, his eyebrows slightly elevated. “I’m sorry, what have you been saying?” she asked.
“Other than asking what’s wrong with you? I said, I wouldn’t have thought anyone else would know or care about your being here on Astura.”
“My sister does now. Crystalyn contacted me.”
Camoe’s aging face darkened. “What? When?”
“It just happened.”
“Oh! Then she is still alive. Try to recall everything she mentioned.”
“She wants me to go to the Staunch the Flow Inn to make contact with its owner, a man named Craight.”
“No, not there, I forbid it. The owner hates Users to no end, all Users, no matter how small their ability.” The druid looked at her pointedly. “His patrons detest Users as much as he does. When I’m recognized, most everyone in there will attack me. They would not kill me, or there would be recriminations, but that does not mean they would not beat me to near death. It is too dangerous, even up here with the monks. Have you forgotten about that acolyte, Dirk, so soon? Down in the town of Brown Recluse, murder from dueling or assassinations is an everyday occurrence.”
Jade moved to the pantry and peered inside. “I’m guessing the owner of the inn has a gateway that will take me to her. If he hates Users, if they hate Users, what will they think of a User’s Creation?” Burl’s unblinking yellow-orange eyes regarded her.
Camoe didn’t reply immediately. “It is irrelevant. I told you, I forbid you from going. You and I should not ever be caught near a place such as that,” he finally said, his voice firm.
“Oh, Camoe,” Jade replied her voice catching in her throat. “You know I have to. It’s what we traveled here to do, find my sister. Now she’s found me. I have to go.”
Camoe gazed at her, a frown creasing his forehead. His jaw worked, but no sound escaped his throat.
Jade’s resolve weakened. There had had to be some other way, but nothing came to mind.
Camoe turned away. “I suppose there is no stopping you, but you shall not go alone.”
Jade was frightened but determined. “I won’t be alone. I have to figure out a way for Burl to accompany me. He can’t stay here, and you cannot go. You can’t defend him forever. I won’t put that responsibility on your shoulders. He has to go with me I owe him too much, and I won’t let you risk the inn to help me, either. I will be safer without you,” she hated herself for saying it, but it was true..
“Of course Burl has to go with you. I could not stop him if I wanted to, which I don’t. He has proven to be a good protector. As for me, a seasoned druid with abilities would give you away immediately. Craight knows me too well to risk a disguise, but I can insist Caven accompany you.”
Jade’s eyebrow rose. How much use could his portly brother be? She’d never seen him touch a weapon. “You’re going to send Caven?”
Camoe relaxed slightly, picking up the book from the table. “He is more versatile than you may think. Consider it settled then. I would speak of this, The Dark Empire before you depart. I spoke with Caven on the matter yesterday; a copy of it is rarer than you know, even in Virun. He wanted to see it immediately, but I have delayed to give you the opportunity to peruse it with your particular insight. As far as we know, there are only two in existence; both were in the Dark Lands after the White Lands’ copy vanished from Surbo. The codexes have gained interest of late, due to their uncanny accuracy. Monks have spent their lives trying to glean meaning from the cryptic tomes, the Virun Codex especially. Though deemed too dangerous to study alone, I believe some of our monks with the most arrogance still peruse it in secret, believing they alone can resist its evil. Apparently, someone, or something, wants you to read it. Have you come across anything referring to the Surbon or Virun codexes in the book?”
Jade gaped at her friend and protector. “Yes I have seen it mentioned. That’s what I wanted to discuss before that…thing jumped out of Vancid’s skin, if that was his real name.”
“I believe it may have been, I’ve seen him around the taverns here before my time at the Dark Citadel, he has been reporting to Caven since he was good at gathering intelligence, which is why I thought it well to hear what he had to say. But, come to think of it, he has been asking about the codexes in exchange for information regarding lower Brown recluse.”
Jade felt a chill begin to form in her stomach. “But that would mean—”
“Yes, at some point in in the last one or two days, the dark man, or whatever it was, consumed him.”
Jade’s stomach switched from chilled to nauseous. “Do you think it was after me all along?”
“Again, I do not believe it so. It is possible, I suppose, that the Dark Users at the Dark Citadel know about you. But that would mean Burl told them. I do not think it, though. Had they known about us, they could have sent armies to hunt us, or worse long before we had escaped the Citadel. Someone else, Perhaps a sole Dark User, went to a great deal of trouble to get a particularly vile evil close to you. Perhaps when they could not kill you through poor Dirk, they grew desperate and expended a valuable espionage commodity to get to you. Caven chose Vancid to replace Dirk solely for the man’s skill as an instructor; he was to train a new acolyte for Caven. Vancid was a member of the Order of Brethren, serving the Great Mother. He had a lowly position, but was a member, nonetheless.”
Burl’s yellow-orange eyes continued to regard her unblinking from the darkness of the pantry. She’d commanded him to stay in the cramped room days ago, but there was no hint of resentment in them, only enduring patience. Like Camoe, she didn’t believe he’d been in contact with his creator; whoever sought her had taken advantage of her proximity.
A single hidden enemy could be worse than an angry mob, as her dad might say. For now, all they could do was stay alert. Staying alive and healthy was an even bigger priority now that Crystalyn had found her. But she couldn’t escape the fact that something else had found her, too.
HIGH ANXIETY EVENING
A soft metallic sound clinked against stone. Fine porcelain clattered together softly. Crystalyn woke from a dream of wandering in thick woods, somewhere near, Jade called her name. She’d dashed toward the sound of her sister’s voice, tearing through thorny branches that ripped at her clothes. Plunging through a wall of greenery, she had broken out i
nto a clearing. The calls grew distant, Jade’s voice faded.
Even though the urgency the dream instilled in her had not gone away, Crystalyn shunted the feeling to the back of her mind. It was a dream, nothing else. Jade would be beside her soon, she reminded herself, yet it didn’t quite quell her uneasiness. A manic episode must be coming on, she thought, glancing around for her pack. How had she fallen asleep so easily in a place she’d never been and only heard bad things about? The Dark Oracle must have sapped a lot of her energy.
The woman who had made the sounds that awoke her, had left a tray on the bedside table, and was now rifling through the room’s wardrobe. At last, she fetched Crystalyn a black gown. “It’s good you have awakened. The Great Lord does not like to be kept waiting.” Seasoned past her middle years, the woman clutched the dress as a prized possession she hated to loan.
Crystalyn sat up, only now recalling Lord Charn’s dinner invitation. She had no desire to go, but couldn’t think of a way out of it. Until Jade arrived, compliance with the Great Lord’s wishes was critical.
Broth’s comforting presence stemmed from the next room, Atoi lounged beside him. Crystalyn hoped there would be time to spend with them after dressing.
Slipping from bed, she stripped down to her undergarments. So exhausted when Darkwind had taken his leave, she’d only removed her boots. The woman’s face was stony with disapproval as she slid the dress over Crystalyn’s shoulders, buttoning it in place almost before it had come to rest. “Tell me what to call you please,” Crystalyn asked, feeling the first stirrings of irritation. The woman’s brusque manners had begun to grate on her patience. She had low tolerance for such things. Patience for a person’s idiosyncrasies was for normal people.
Beyond the Sapphire Gate: Epic Fantasy-Some Magic Should Remain Untouched (The Flow of Power Book 1) Page 41