by Kay L. Ling
Eventually, Jules found the stone he had thrown. There weren’t many loose stones, and he recognized it by its size and color. “We’d better stop here. I found my stone.” He picked it up.
“Let me throw one,” Kaff said. He kept the largest one and dumped the rest on the ground.
His stone went about twenty feet and dropped with a whump. He frowned in annoyance.
Jules threw again with all his strength. The stone traveled in a high arc and then dropped abruptly, raising a cloud of dust when it landed. It had outdistanced Kaff’s, but he’d done better on the first try, a testament to the increasing strength of the repelling force.
“Even if it’s safe to go right up to the barrier, we won’t have the strength to get there,” Elias said in a disappointed tone. He brushed a strand of gray hair from his eyes.
Jules had to agree. The repelling force was crushing him. “We should conserve our energy and go back.”
Kaff’s expression said Jules was a pathetic quitter. The gnome moved up to the place where Jules’s stone had landed, picked up the stone, and turned to them with a smug look. “Watch this.” He limbered up for the throw.
Jules shook his head, more amused than annoyed. Throwing a stone into this energy field was like pitching a ball into a gale force wind. It was hard for someone of Jules’s height and weight and it would be even harder for a gnome. But Kaff was determined to outdo him.
Kaff drew back his arm like a baseball pitcher and leaned into the throw. His stone flew seven or eight feet, hit a figurative wall, and dropped. He threw up his hands in annoyance and went to retrieve the stone, leaning forward and walking with obvious effort.
He had only moved a few feet forward, but as he drew back his arm for another throw, the resistance was so much stronger that he was visibly shaking with the effort. He released the stone without much follow-through.
As if ricocheting off a wall, the stone came flying back and smacked Kaff in the forehead. He collapsed like the Biblical Goliath felled by a stone from David’s slingshot.
It wasn’t nice to laugh, but Jules couldn’t help himself. Elias was chuckling, too. Kaff sat up and grabbed his head, spouting curses vile enough to shock a breghlin.
“Mark my words, he’ll be boasting about that wound before the day is over,” Elias whispered to Jules.
Still sputtering, Kaff struggled to his feet and started toward them, glaring at them as if they were responsible for his injury. His forehead was oozing blood, but the cut didn’t look deep. He stopped in front of them and asked in a confrontational tone, “No one’s ever gotten that close to the barrier, have they?”
“Probably not,” Elias said. “Not in a very long time, anyway.”
Kaff gave them a grim smile of satisfaction.
“See what you can do for that cut,” Elias said to Jules. “Fair Lands healing gems are more effective than native gems.”
Kaff opened his mouth and then shut it. “Don’t bother. It’s not that bad.” He turned on his heel and started up the hill where Parcune, Ben, and Tina Ann were still watching.
Jules and Elias watched him go. “I had forgotten we had an audience,” Jules said, and Elias smiled.
“We still can’t pinpoint where the barrier lies,” Elias said as they trudged up the hill, “but Kaff’s stones didn’t disintegrate, so they didn’t reach it.”
“The Fair Lands Amulet doesn’t try to repel me, so I have no way to compare the two. How does this Amulet’s energy field compare to that one?”
Elias thought a moment. “It was a very long time ago when I lost my ability to cross, but as I recall, the repelling force became noticeable within a few yards of the barrier and grew exponentially stronger with each step. Here, the force starts much farther back, but from what we saw today, it becomes stronger very quickly.”
“Pardon the rather tactless question, but when you were in the process of changing but still able to pass through, crossing was painful, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. As my deformities multiplied, it became increasingly difficult to reach the barrier, and when I crossed, the pain was terrible. A less ambitious person would have stayed in the Fair Lands, but as we know, I was a fool.”
Jules said quietly, “You’re lucky the Amulet didn’t kill you.”
“Yes, thankfully the repelling force grew so strong that eventually I couldn’t reach the barrier no matter how hard I tried.
They walked in silence, and the pressure from the repelling force eased the further away they went. Parcune, Ben, and Tina Ann started down the hill toward them, impatient for news.
Kaff broke into a run, and when Jules and Elias caught up to him, he was telling the group proudly, “Elias and Jules couldn’t go any farther. The force was too strong for them. But I kept going. We needed to test the resistance. Look! I threw a stone so hard it bounced off the energy field and hit me!”
Jules was tempted to make a snide remark but held his tongue.
Ben eyed the cut. “Not too bad,” he said with a shrug.
Tina Ann looked equally unimpressed. “Not bleeding anymore.”
Parcune cleared his throat. “If we’re through discussing Kaff’s wounds, I’d like to hear the rest of the news.”
Elias said, “I’m sure you saw the statue. It’s a gnome and probably a memorial. We think it’s on the other side.” He paused and frowned. “The repelling force is extremely powerful. We can’t get close to the barrier, so we’ll have to work from a distance.”
“We brought alamaria. That should help,” Kaff said. “And the white gem will combine our powers.”
Elias sat on the ground, and the others joined him in thoughtful silence, looking toward the invisible boundary that divided Ahmonell.
Elias placed his hand over the jeweled bracelets on his left arm and closed his eyes. Kaff, sitting next to him, touched the bracelet Elias had lent him. Jules never wore jewelry. He used loose gems instead. He took a native foresight gem from his pouch, feeling a rush of excitement as he closed his eyes. This close to the barrier, where the Amulet’s power was strongest, it might be easier to gain insights. What gems had the Amulet’s creators used? Were there any vulnerabilities?
For a few minutes, deep in a trancelike state, his mind drifted. Then he saw gems whose names he didn’t know, and he couldn’t sense their powers. Elias finally spoke, breaking his concentration, and Jules opened his eyes.
Parcune, Ben, and Tina Ann were sitting nearby for moral support.
“I can delve no deeper,” Elias said heavily. “I didn’t gain many useful insights about the Amulet or the barrier. What about you?” he asked Jules and Kaff.
“I didn’t have any luck, either,” Jules said. “Whoever made the Amulet may have put safeguards in place to keep others from understanding how it works.”
Kaff nodded but offered no comments, so Elias went on. “I used a gem that helped me analyze energy emissions, and I learned one important thing. The effects of the energy blast are degrading over time. The Amulet should eventually return to normal, but not within your lifetimes, or your children’s.”
Tina Ann said gloomily, “But we wants to go there now.”
“Don’t give up hope,” Elias said. “It may take time to find a solution. Before we go, there’s one more thing I’d like to try. It occurred to me that we might be able to punch a hole through the barrier, using alamaria and a variety of gems.” He rubbed his forehead. “First, we should rest and have something to eat.”
They all went back to the carts. The maraku, a short distance away, were swishing their tails, looking less disturbed now by the energy field.
Jules ate hastily, barely tasting his food, and then downed a cup of fialazza. Now that he knew the energy field’s strength, he doubted they could penetrate the barrier even with alamaria-enhanced gem powers.
Elias called, “I’m ready when you are.”
Elias gave Kaff the honor of bringing the artifact gems. Ben carried a bucket of alamaria, Parcune brought canteens o
f water, and Tina Ann brought a piece of canvas for everyone to sit on. They returned to the same place as before, and Elias told the group, “Get comfortable. This will take longer than before.”
Elias, Jules, and Kaff sat cross-legged facing one another, knees touching, and Kaff unwrapped the gems.
“We’ll start with gem combinations most likely to affect the barrier,” Elias said. You may get an intuitive idea during the process, but wait till I say we’re finished before sharing your thoughts. You’ll be using your own gems, while I hold the white gem, the rose gem, and the others I’ve chosen for this experiment. We must maintain physical contact. The rose gem utilizes our own energy, so we’ll offset that by drawing on gems that give us strength and stamina.” Elias listed the gems they should use, and they were ones Jules and Kaff had infused during the trip, but they would hold physical gems to amplify the effects.
Kaff said, “You made heat and light with the rose gem before. What form of energy are we making now?”
“Pure energy, focused in a beam,” Elias said.
“I’m not sure I even know what that means,” Kaff said worriedly.
“The white gem links our minds as well as combining our powers. You’ll know what I’m doing. Just follow my lead.”
They took out the gems they needed. Ben, Tina Ann, and Parcune watched silently from the sidelines.
“Ready,” Jules said.
Kaff said, “Me too.”
Elias nodded and closed his eyes. “Let’s begin.”
Jules submerged himself in the shared link. The rose stone was drawing energy from all of them, and Elias was manipulating that energy and focusing it into a beam. Jules knew the beam wasn’t visible, so he didn’t try to look, but he could see a shaft of pink light in his mind. Elias continued to compress the energy, making the beam more intense, and then directed it at the barrier.
At first, everything seemed to be going well, and then a crushing pressure knocked Jules flat on his back, severing the link. Frightened and confused, he tried to sit, but his body wouldn’t cooperate.
Elias gasped, “The repelling force!”
It was inexplicably stronger and felt like a slab of stone pressing down on him. Jules finally managed to sit, but the effort made his head swim. Elias and Kaff were still on the ground, but Parcune and the breghlin had gotten up. Canteens were skidding up the hill like windblown leaves.
“We need to retreat!” Elias said, trying ineffectually to get up. Parcune and the breghlin took hold of him and helped him to his feet.
Jules stood, and seeing that Kaff was on the ground, bent down and offered his hand. Kaff didn’t refuse.
Elias checked to make sure all the artifact gems were safe in the cloth wrapping, and then tucked the bundle into his robe pocket. The bucket of alamaria had kept the ground cloth from sailing away. Ben lifted the bucket, and Tina Ann yanked the cloth out from under it.
“Go!” Tina Ann called to Kaff who stood in a daze.
Jules took Elias’s arm, and they all started up the hill. The repelling force was at their backs, pushing them—driving them away from the barrier. When they passed the three trees, it still felt like a weight bearing down on them, but it was more tolerable.
As they neared the carts, Elias called to Ben, “The maraku! Move them farther away.” The maraku were snorting and bellowing, trying to free themselves from the stakes.
Ben and Tina Ann hurried off.
Jules led Elias to the back of the passenger cart where they sat down and tried to catch their breath. “If we’re going to stay, we’ll have to camp further away.” Jules said.
“I don’t think we’ll be spending the night.”
Kaff came up, hair in disarray, the cut on his forehead bleeding again.
For a moment no one spoke, and then Jules said, “What just happened back there?”
Elias said, “I think the Amulet absorbed our energy beam. Rather than punch a hole through, we strengthened the barrier.” His shoulders sagged. “And that was the most promising plan.”
Maybe they should have foreseen this. Gnomes had destroyed the Mydorian portal with an energy beam, and the Amulet had absorbed the resulting blast and become stronger. The Amulet might not always react that way, but in retrospect, it had been risky to use energy against it.
“So, any plan using energy won’t work,” said Jules.
“Apparently not.”
“What do we do now?” Kaff asked, brushing dirt from his robe.
“My other plan is less likely to succeed, but we can try targeting the gems that control who passes through. If the Amulet were working as designed, Jules and I would be the only ones to feel the repelling force. Natives of Ahmonell should feel no resistance.”
“So, if your idea worked, the repelling force would go away?” Kaff asked.
“In theory, it should. At least for you natives. Perhaps for Jules and me as well if we thoroughly confused the discernment function. In any case, it’s worth a try and won’t take long.”
They sat on the ground, facing one another as before, maintaining physical contact and combining their abilities under Elias’s direction. Elias had three gems that might confuse or disable the discernment function, and they spent time trying them one by one, then in combinations. But the repelling force remained, even for the gnomes, so the strategy didn’t work.
“The Amulet’s gem powers are in a hyperactive mode,” Elias said. “It will be nearly impossible to overcome the malfunction.” He looked weary and discouraged. “We did our best, and I’m proud of you.”
Kaff touched the cut on his forehead. They wouldn’t be returning home as heroes. Not this time, anyway.
“There has to be some vulnerability we can exploit,” Jules said.
“Yes, and in time, we’ll find it,” Elias said. “This wasn’t a wasted trip. We know more than when we started.”
They put everything back onto the carts and got ready to leave.
“All aboard,” Elias said to the team, “our breghlin guides are waiting and we’ll be returning ahead of schedule.”
“I never thought I’d think of Shadowglade as home,” Jules said, “but I’ll be glad to get back.”
Chapter 15
The scouts were waiting as promised. Elias and Ben went to speak to them, and then came back to the passenger cart.
“We’ve decided to spend the night here and leave first thing in the morning,” Elias said. “The scouts will accompany us as far as their home.”
“Did they ask how things went?” Parcune asked.
“Yes. I promised to share news over dinner.”
Kaff grimaced. “We’re eating dinner with them? They stink like—”
“Not another word,” Elias snapped. “We don’t smell much better, I assure you.”
Kaff heaved an elaborate sigh.
“Make yourself useful. Help Ben and Parcune set up camp.”
Muttering under his breath, Kaff jumped out of the cart, brushed dirt from his robe, and began combing his hair.
“Don’t need his help,” Ben grumbled.
“You’re right, we’re better off without him,” Parcune agreed, climbing down from the driver’s box. “We’ll have the tent up before he’s finished grooming himself.” He and Ben headed for the supply cart.
Jules smiled. Thanks to their common dislike of the abrasive young gnome, Ben and Parcune were becoming allies, if not friends. Parcune had definitely lost his haughty air. Not only had Ben and Tina Ann rescued him, they hadn’t taunted him about it, and that had won them several points.
“Keep him busy,” Elias said to Jules once Kaff had gone. “He could single-handedly destroy our good relations with these breghlin.”
At dinner, Elias and Jules purposely put Kaff between them, so they could elbow him if he started to say anything offensive, but he didn’t say a word. He kept his head down and ate, his eyes seldom straying from his plate.
Kaff hated to watch breghlin eat. At every meal, Ben and Tina Ann slu
rped their food, grunted with pleasure, and belched as loudly as possible, just to annoy him.
Toward the end of the meal, Elias began to recount the day’s adventures, including the stone-throwing experiments, and Jules thought it was kind of Elias not to mention that Kaff had nearly knocked himself senseless being a showoff.
The breghlin listened intently as Elias described the failed attempts to break through the barrier, and shook their heads sadly when Elias said the energy beam had strengthened the repelling force.
NE3 said, “You try again when you learn more?”
“Yes,” Elias said. “There has to be a solution.”
Jules gave the scouts an encouraging smile. “In the meantime, let your clans know about the Amulet and the land on the other side. And if they haven’t heard, tell them Sheamathan has been defeated.”
“A giant beetle,” NE3 said, as if he could still hardly believe it. “You be brave warriors.”
The group broke up, moving off to their respective camps.
The sky was red as the sun sank below the horizon, and the air was growing chilly, but Jules didn’t mind. He sat on a campstool outside the tent, writing in his journal. Today’s entry would be longer than most. There were so many things he wanted to record—not just the events themselves but how it had felt to work together as a team. He concluded with: We haven’t successfully penetrated the Amulet barrier, but now we know what we’re facing. The barrier becomes stronger if you use energy against it. Elias’s second plan, trying to confuse the Amulet’s discernment ability, was actually the more promising plan even though it didn’t work. It makes sense that gems that interfere with the Amulet’s malfunctioning gem powers could be the solution.
“It’s getting cold.”
Jules looked up to find Elias watching him. The tent flaps were open. Inside, his teammates were laying out their bedrolls.
“I just finished today’s entry.” He stood and stuffed the journal into his backpack, having learned the hard way not to leave the journal lying about. A couple days ago, he’d left it in the cart and caught Kaff picking it up. Now, he kept it in his backpack, safe from prying eyes. The whole point of a journal was to write candidly. He wrote about his teammates and also about Lana. He’d be embarrassed if anyone read his romantic ramblings.