by David Hodges
Aatu said, “They must know where he is. We just have to get it out of them.”
“It was just a supply run!” said Hazel running to Faron.
Faron nodded and went to Fíodor and Elisedd.
“Leave them, they were taking her to Einar,” Aatu said firmly.
“I wasn’t taken! I wanted to go!” shouted Hazel.
“You came up with the idea yourself?” asked Aatu with an unrestrained condescendence.
Hazel did not reply.
“As I was saying, it’s clear they’ve conspired with Einar.”
Faron said, “I think it’s more likely that Einar was tracking them from the village.” He cut Fíodor and Elisedd’s ties.
“Your son is making a mistake,” Aatu said to Ayalon.
“Hazel trusts them. She was there, so shall I,” said Faron. “Go home,” he said to Fíodor and Elisedd.
As they hurried off, Elisedd flashed a worried look at Hazel, then turned and disappeared into the woods with his father.
“You’re letting two of Einar’s accomplices go,” said Aatu.
Faron replied, “Last I checked, detaining our own people with no grounds was not a function of the Laochra.”
Aatu stepped closer to Faron. “They’re not our people if they’re with Einar.”
“We have no proof. Should any arise, we’ll know where to find them.”
Aatu looked to Ayalon. “You approve of this?”
“Yes. For the time being.”
Aatu shook his head and walked away with Cuyler, Ulric, and his wolves.
Ayalon looked to Hazel. “How did you get out of the village, Hazel? The wagon was checked, you weren’t in it.”
“We... climbed down the quarry.” She realized what a terrible fib it was only after she spoke.
“You climbed down?” He looked at Fergus skeptically.
“Yes.”
Ayalon said, “Uou put yourself and your friends in grave danger today. You’ll be guarded the same as your brother from now on.”
He looked to Bjorn. “Take her to the Den. A pair of Laochra will meet you there.”
Bjorn nodded.
Hazel followed Bjorn toward the Den with Fergus. As they passed by the Nest, Hazel noticed that the door was open and Ollamh was working on it. Several Laochra were standing guard at the entrance as Ollamh tinkered away at it.
Hazel realized that there were three large holes in the thick slab of wood where a door knob and deadbolts should have been. “What’s going on there?”
Bjorn said, “They’re changing the locks. Whoever broke in managed to pick them, or worse, they had a key. Either way, the old ones are useless now. It looks like Ollamh is planning to cure them this time.”
“Curing a lock and key? What for?” asked Fergus.
“Well, I’m no master of Bheochan, but I imagine there‘s a way to tether the lock to the key... make it unpickable.”
Fergus looked at Hazel with wide eyes that betrayed an epiphany.
Then it hit Hazel too. She touched the leather string that was securing her comb to her neck. The lock and the key, the shield and the comb.
Hazel blurted out, “Bjorn, I’m really sorry to ask you this, but I think I need to get back to my flat right away. I promise I’ll come straight back to the Den.”
“Sorry, Hazel, but it’ll be my...”
“Please, it’s a matter of... feminine hygiene.”
Fergus scratched his head at the palpable discomfort that he and Bjorn shared.
Bjorn replied, embarrassed. “Right... right, that’s fine. Do what you need to, but I’ll need to escort you to your flat and back.”
“Aye, thank you.”
When they arrived at the building, Hazel and Fergus went up to her flat while Bjorn waited outside.
“The comb’s the key, it has to be right?” said Fergus excitedly.
“Aye, look here, the letter my mother wrote to give me with the comb.” Hazel showed Fergus the letter she had received with her comb.
The last three words read, this is key.
“I thought she was just adding emphasis, it’s clear now that it’s out of place in the letter.”
“So if the comb is the key, we just need to find the keyhole,” said Fergus as he examined Cameron’s feathered shield.
“We’ve looked at it a hundred times, don’t you think we would’ve seen it?”
“I’m sure we did, we just didn’t know what we were looking for.” Fergus showed her the back of the shield where a wooden ring was attached to a perimeter of tightly woven feathers. He lifted up the back of the feathers and showed her the small, evenly spaced holes that were drilled all the way around the wooden ring. “Perhaps a set of these,” he muttered as he held the shield up in front of a candle.
Hazel joined him as he examined the holes, then noticed a glint of light reflecting from several holes that were next to one another. “Wait,” she said. “Do you see that?”
“Aye... is it Fuil?”
Hazel pulled out her comb and examined its prongs which were the only part of the comb wrapped with Fuil. “These look too big though. They aren’t the right shape either, see?” She placed the rectangular prongs over the four circular holes.
As soon as she did, the prongs on the comb began to narrow and change shape so that they fit perfectly within the round holes. She looked at Fergus, who was entranced, then slid the comb further into the holes. There was a light click, then the shield began to twist and turn in Fergus’s hands.
“What’s happening!” he exclaimed with a combination of astonishment and worry in his voice.
“Look! Turn it over!” said Hazel.
The feathers had rearranged themselves, and the pattern that was once there was now gone. Now there was only a small blue circle in the middle, and closer to the edge of the shield, another circle was pulsating slightly. The feathers near it shifted rhythmically so that it grew slightly larger then became smaller again.
“What’s it doing?” asked Fergus.
“I’m not sure... can I see it?”
Fergus handed her the shield, and as he gave it to her, the pulsating dot on the shield orbited half way around the center so that it faced the same direction it had been when Fergus was holding it.
“A compass!” they both exclaimed at once.
Fergus looked out the window and saw the setting sun to the west. “But that’s not north... you don’t reckon...”
“The Sphere.” Hazel looked up at him with the same mischievous expression that had gotten him into trouble time and again.
They looked out the window down at Bjorn on the street.
“Should we tell him?” asked Fergus.
“No. He’ll inform Ayalon. He might not even let us come. I think we should go see for ourselves.”
“What about Cameron and Daniel? Shouldn’t we wait?”
“Cameron is in no state... he hadn’t woken last I checked. We’ll let him rest. We’ll bring Daniel, though. You go get him. I’ll get changed.”
When Fergus returned with Daniel, the three of them left the flat through an alley entrance and stayed off the street, making sure to avoid Bjorn.
“What if it takes us past the walls?” asked Fergus.
“It won’t, it’s pointing us toward the quarry... we can leave through the mines.”
They went to the stable where they saw Elisedd speaking with Augie.
“Hold on,” said Fergus with a hushed voice, moving Hazel behind a tree. “We shouldn’t tell Elisedd about the shield.”
Hazel said, “You don’t actually believe what Aatu said?”
“It’s not just that, Hazel. It’s the mines too. Doesn’t it strike you as odd that he knew of a secret cave that happened to be the very same place Einar and his supporters met?”
The thought had crossed her mind, but she trusted Elisedd.
Fergus continued, “Look, he’s a nice lad, I get it, but there’s something he’s not telling us. How do you accidentally o
pen a hidden door on which two very specific stones must be used?”
“You don’t,” said Daniel. “Someone showed him.”
“Or he helped build it.”
Hazel remembered how Fergus had been examining the beams when they were in the tunnel beneath the rubble. “The beams... you noticed something down there.”
“Aye, they’re new.”
“How do you know?” asked Hazel.
“They were too dry to have been in that cave for long... they’d been placed there recently.”
Hazel did not want to believe it, but she knew Fergus was right, Elisedd was lying about the mines. “We won’t tell him.”
Fergus nodded, then they continued to the stable.
Elisedd glanced down at the shield in Hazel’s hand, then asked, “Hazel, where are you off to?”
“We just felt like a ride.”
“In the dark?”
“Aye.”
“Alright. Well, your horses are just out back,” said Elisedd.
They rode toward the quarry on the river trail. As they neared it, the pulsating red spot moved closer to the center. “Look,” said Hazel as she passed the shield to Daniel.
“It must be close,” said Daniel.
As they approached the quarry, Hazel heard someone riding up behind them. She stopped her horse and turned to see a lantern heading straight for them.
As it got closer, Hazel realized it was Alviva.
“What are you doing here?” Daniel asked her.
“Might ask you the same.” She saw the shield in Hazel’s hand. “They’re looking for you, c’mon,” she said before riding up to the Laochra that was posted ahead near the waterfall. She spoke with the guard. After a brief exchange, he shrugged, then mounted Alviva’s horse and rode back toward the village.
Hazel walked toward the edge of the cliff with Daniel and Fergus.
Alviva said, “Offered to cover his shift, he couldn’t resist.”
Daniel grabbed her by the waist and kissed her. “Thank you.”
Alviva nodded. “Don’t be long, and be careful down there.”
Hazel led Daniel and Fergus into the same cave that led to the secret passage. As she held her lantern over the shield, the red fluttering spot looked to be perfectly centered on the shield, the blue spot in the center now purple and bordered with red. “Says it’s right here. You don’t think we’re wrong about it?”
Fergus shook his head. “No, it must be here somewhere, below us maybe?”
“The only way down is through the hidden door, that would take us away from the beacon.” Hazel thought about where it could be over the sound of the water splashing out of the small, eroded hole in the wall. “Hold on... that water that’s flowing in, it’s not filling up the cave, so where’s it going?”
Hazel went to the pool of water and held her lantern over it. It was clear, and she could see the rocky bottom easily. She quickly scanned the pool. There were no signs of a drain until she reached the edge of the pool where the water was splashing down. She could just make out the edge of a metal cover under the frothy water.
She reached into the frigid water and felt the grating until she found a handle. She looked up at Daniel and Fergus who were anxiously awaiting, then lifted up. The grating flipped open, and water funneled and splashed into the opening. Hazel peered into it, unable to make out what was beneath.
Daniel was already taking off his jacket. He handed his lantern and jacket to Fergus, then said, “I’ll call up if it’s safe.”
“Hold on, mate,” said Fergus, who was pulling a coiled rope from his satchel. He stepped into the pool and tied it around the hinges of the drain’s cover.
Daniel climbed down on the rope, disappearing into the deluge. There was a sound of a splash that stood out from the steady flow.
Hazel and Fergus waited for an anxious several seconds.
Then Hazel could just make out his shout over the sound of the rushing water. “C’mon, it’s a deep pool down here!”
Fergus stuffed what he could into his satchel, then said, “The things I do for you,” before descending into the hole, instantly drenching himself.
Hazel heard him splash down. She stepped into the pool and began shivering instantly. She slipped her arm through the shield’s straps and began climbing down into the frigid shower. As she descended, the rope ran out before she could see how far up she was through the water streaming over her. Sod it. She let go, plunging into the pool below.
When she popped out of the freezing water, she gasped, loosening the knot in her stomach and grabbed her hat that was floating in the pool.
She saw that Daniel had already managed to light his lantern on the rock surface next to the pool. She quickly swam the short way and climbed up onto the rock, water dripping off of her soaked coat.
Fergus was shivering violently with his arms wrapped around himself.
Hazel shook off the shield and looked at it under Daniel’s lantern. “Just over there.” She walked a few paces forward, then noticed cones of rock shooting up from the ground, up above sharper rocks hung from the ceiling like icicles.
As she weaved through the projections, she began to make out a tall curtain hanging from a circular ring that was braced by thick webbing in the stalactites. A similar ring attached the curtain to the stalagmites jutting from the ground. The curtain had a sheen to it.
Hazel squeezed through the rocks and touched the curtain. It felt like silk, very much like the strip of fabric that Fíodor had showed her from his loom, but this was a thinner sheet. She could see now that it had a subtle copper shimmer. Hazel walked around the tall column and saw that it was seamless the whole way round.
She drew Crúbail and pressed the blade into the curtain, slicing straight through. Just as she removed it, webs shot from each edge of the tear in the curtain, joining the edges together. The curtain regained its original appearance with only a thin line of coppery, webbed stitching.
She tried again with a quick slash, then shot her hand into the curtain. Webs quickly enveloped her arm as the curtain repaired itself. She yanked her arm out and watched the hole she left seal itself off.
Fergus examined the bottom of the column of silk, struggling as he crammed himself through the jagged rocks. He was looking through the thick coppery webbing to the ring in the stalagmites. “Hazel, the comb...”
Hazel crouched down beside him and Daniel and looked through the webs where he was pointing at four small square holes in the ring, barely visible through the webbing.
She removed the comb from the shield and watched its prongs take on their normal square shape, then she reached into the webs and slid it into the slots, the prongs fit perfectly without changing. She waited for a moment, then saw a split in the curtain opening from the bottom all the way to the top ring.
Hazel rose with Fergus and Daniel. They both looked to her, waiting. Daniel handed her the lantern and nodded.
She slipped through the silk into the column, her lantern creating a gradient of shimmering orange up the curtain.
In the center of the hollow column, she saw it.
Resting on top of a broad stalagmite, the flawless silver Sphere was easily three times larger than the lone Sphere housed in the Nest. Hazel went to it and lifted it off the rock pedestal, half expecting it to vanish. The heavy weight of it told her it was real.
She returned to Daniel and Fergus. Their stares got lost in the elusive crux, both of them experiencing the same surrealism that Hazel was feeling.
“You’ve done it, Hazel,” muttered Fergus.
“We’ve done it.”
After another moment of disbelief, Hazel placed the Sphere into Fergus’s satchel and they made their way over to the pool and the rope.
When they arrived, Hazel could not see the rope hanging over the pool within the water pouring down. “Where is it?”
Daniel said, “Bollocks... it must’ve fallen into the pool.”
“No,” said Fergus. “It held our
weight.”
A man’s voice echoed behind them. “Hazel.”
She whipped around and saw nothing at first, then a cloaked figure was descending from the top of the cavern on a strand of thick web.
He removed his hood. Fíodor.
“What are you doing here?” said Hazel anxiously, her stomach tightening.
“The Sphere, we need to make it safe.” He stepped toward her.
“I’m going to take it to Ayalon.”
“No! There’s no time for this. Give it to me.”
Hazel thought of Fíodor’s detained friend, of Elisedd and the secret passage, of Aatu’s accusations in Derby. She didn’t want to believe any of it, but there he was. She stepped back and touched her hilt.
There was a loud splash behind Hazel. She turned to look, then saw a wolf emerging from the pool as another wolf dropped from the drain above.
Then she heard Fergus shout beside her. “Help!”
She turned back around and saw Fíodor holding Fergus with his long brown fingers, ripping the satchel from his shoulder. Daniel ran toward them. Fíodor pushed Fergus to the ground and backed away with the satchel as Daniel helped Fergus up.
Aatu’s wolves walked ahead, approaching Fíodor with low growls loud enough to smother the sound of splashing water. There were men dropping down into the pool behind her.
Fíodor reached behind his back and pulled out a wad of webbing, then hurled it up at the ceiling as he jumped. One of the wolves lunged for him and caught his ankle, shooting up toward the ceiling with him. Fíodor yelled from high above, kicking the wolf’s snout once, twice, then the third kick sent the wolf down toward the ground with a whimper.
The wolf smacked into the rock below; he was still and silent.
Several Laochra had crawled out from the pool. Aatu rushed by Hazel and crouched down next to the wolf, then shouted, “Bring him down, Cuyler!”
Arrows whizzed by Hazel as Cuyler shot them at the shadow crawling on the ceiling above. After a few quick shots, Fíodor cried out in pain as he plummeted from the ceiling into the pool.
Bjorn and Ulric, fully changed, reached into the pool and dragged him out.
Fíodor’s drenched face changed. His eyes turned black; his jaw became a pair of massive hairy brown fangs coming to sharp points. They spread apart as he went for Ulric’s neck.