by Ben Hale
“Do it,” she whispered. “He could have killed me already if he wanted to.”
Jack hesitated, and then reluctantly tipped the liquid into her mouth. She gasped as it went down her throat, and then her body relaxed. She sighed in relief and weakly got to her feet. Then her eyes fell upon Skorn.
“Why heal me?” she asked.
“Because of him,” Skorn said, stabbing at finger at Jack. “I need him, and this is the only way I can ensure obedience.”
“You assume I care about her life,” Jack said, and folded his arms.
“Jack,” Beauty said, her voice wounded.
Skorn released a mocking laugh. “You can lie to me, but you can’t lie to yourself. Two doses will cure the poison, and the first dose is temporary. If she fails to get the second, she will suffer an agonizing death.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew another vial, holding it aloft so everyone could see it.
“What do you want?” Jack asked.
Skorn’s eyes glittered in triumph. “As I’m sure you know, the Vault of the Eternals requires two keys to enter. Unfortunately, mine were taken and destroyed by my brother, necessitating a replacement.” He pointed to the keys in Beauty’s hand.
“Who are the Eternals?” Beauty asked.
Skorn laughed. “Answering that would be like explaining the stars to a dog.”
“If yours were destroyed,” Thalidon said, “why not re-forge them?”
“A thousand dwarves could not remake such keys in ten lifetimes,” Skorn said. “And they are given only to Eternals. Only one saw the light and stood against the Eternals, and you know him as Lord Draeken.”
Jack’s eyes flicked to Lorelia at the mention of Draeken. She too had known the keys came from him, but where had she gotten her information?
“What do you want from the vault?” Jack asked.
Skorn gestured to Lorelia. “I’ll allow your friend to explain it to you on the way.”
“You expect me to trust her?” Jack asked, stabbing a finger at her.
Lorelia reached out to him. “Jack, I—”
“Don’t,” Jack said, his voice so cold she flinched and withdrew her hand.
Skorn made an irritated sound. “You’ll have plenty of time to consider her actions on the road. Don’t forget the clock is ticking.” He held the vial aloft again.
Jack tensed, readying himself for the leap to take it. As if reading his thoughts, Skorn smiled.
“Attack me and the vial could break,” he said. “Are you willing to risk it?”
Jack stared at it, but managed to control the temptation. “One assignment,” he said. “For Beauty.”
Skorn advanced until Jack could see every flaw in his scarred flesh. “Do you not understand? I own you—and your talent. Only when you have retrieved what I need will I allow Gallow to kill you.”
Jack laughed. “And you call me arrogant? Are all ancients like you?”
Skorn gave an appreciative chuckle. “I have underestimated you, Jack. You do know who I am.”
“How do you know I won’t sneak in and take the vial?” Jack asked.
Ursana suddenly cried out and grabbed her elbow. Then Gordon went down, followed by the dwarves. Each showed the same symptoms as Beauty. Jack realized Lorelia had poisoned them all and his eyes flicked to her. She flinched at his unspoken anger.
“I had no choice,” she repeated.
Skorn laughed. “You will do as I say because you will not let your friends die.” He swept a hand at the room. “You have six weeks and a long journey. You should hasten.”
Ultimately, Jack realized he had no choice. Releasing a growl, he said, “As you order.”
Skorn smiled in triumph, twisting the scars on his face. Then he withdrew four more vials and handed them to Gallow to distribute.
“You and Lorelia will go to the vault’s entrance,” he said. “There you will use the keys to access the vault. Resist the urge to marvel at the Eternal’s refuge and find the strongroom. Then it will be up to you to steal this.” He held up a drawing depicting a small black pyramid. “Retrieve it and return. Then I will heal your friends.”
“How do I know you will fulfill your oath?”
“You don’t,” he said. “But you have no other choice.”
Conscious of his groaning friends, Jack realized he could not disagree—for now. If he feigned consent the opportunity to defy Skorn would come. Scowling, he swept a hand outward.
“So where is the vault?”
“In another realm,” Skorn replied.
“Then how do we get there?” Jack demanded.
Skorn’s smile widened. “The same way you travel to any realm. A Gate.”
Chapter 35: The Eternal Gate
Jack and Lorelia exited Margauth and followed the canyon to Hilltop, but their journey north was a silent one. Several times Lorelia attempted to start a conversation but Jack did not respond. The hours stretched into days but Jack held his tongue, and eventually she accepted his rebuke and stopped trying.
They rode their mounts across the breadth of Griffin and passed through one of the northern forts into unclaimed lands. Great footprints of giants and tigrons marked the earth, as did the tracks of wandering goblin tribes. In spite of the evidence they saw no one, and shortly after passed onto the Fractured Plains. An hour later they reached the pit.
At a mile across and several miles in length, the pit disappeared into darkness below. Wind howled into and out of the giant chasm, haunting and shrill. They stood and gazed down upon the depths for several minutes until Jack spotted a flicker of movement across the gap.
“We need to move,” Jack said.
“You’re speaking to me now?”
“No,” Jack said. “But this is rock troll land, and they call themselves the flesh of war for a reason. I may be angry, but I’m not a fool.”
“The rock trolls are not what they once were,” she said, turning away from the pit and leading him into a shallow ravine. She spoke in a rush, as if eager for the conversation. “King Tryton brought them to peace, and as you know, even contracted his people as guards for royalty, master craftsmen, and mages.”
He smiled as he recalled facing them in Griffin. Then his levity faded and his voice hardened. “When did you know you would betray us?”
She released a pained sigh. “Six weeks before you returned, Skorn sent me a message—”
“And you answered it?”
“I did,” she said. “But I didn’t know it was him. The message came from an acquaintance from my time in the mage guild. She said she knew my secret and had found a way to heal me. I couldn’t resist, and when I showed up I found Skorn waiting for me.”
“He tricked you,” he said. “It’s what he does.”
“No,” she said. “He did something to my face, and I watched my flesh turn whole for the first time in my life. There was no illusion. My scars were gone, and even the marks of my birth mended before my eyes.” Her voice filled with yearning when she described what Skorn had done. Then it turned bitter. “Then he took it away.”
“He promised he could make it permanent,” Jack guessed.
“I could not refuse,” she said quietly.
“You could have,” he said. “You don’t need him—”
She spun to face him, her beautiful face tightening with sudden rage. “Were you going to help me? Not likely. And where was everybody else? No one ever looked past my pretty face. No one cared to. Gordon even called me a coward.”
“Can you fault us?” Jack demanded. “You hide yourself and blame us for not accepting you. If you had shown us who you were, we would have helped.”
Her illusion evaporated and her deformed features returned. She stabbed a finger at the scars covering half of her face.
“This is what happened the last time I showed myself.”
“It’s who you are,” Jack said. “Accept it.”
She stepped close to him and jammed a finger into his chest. “Like you accepting that you
’re a thief?”
“I’m not.”
“It’s who you are,” she said, mimicking his condescending voice perfectly. “Accept it.”
He growled and strode away. For several miles they seethed in silence. The expanse of stone contained thousands of plunging ravines, canyons, and pillars of windswept stone. Vegetation was sparse on the surface, but Jack caught glimpses of dying brush in the base of the ravines. The spring runoff had long since dried up, but the hardy plants had dug their roots deep and were prepared to weather the winter before snowmelt flooded the region.
The broken expanse made navigating it difficult, and several times they were forced to backtrack in order to find a place narrow enough for them to leap the gaps. By nightfall they camped in a shallow crevasse but forewent a fire. As the stone cooled under Jack’s back he stared at the sky.
“He was your breakthrough,” Jack said, recalling how she’d spoken of a breakthrough when researching Skorn. “How much did he tell you?”
She didn’t answer for several minutes. “He said he was the last ancient on Lumineia, but there were others in another realm. All he wants is to return home.”
Jack snorted in disbelief. “He’s not a family man.”
“I didn’t believe him either,” she said, “at first. But after he showed me what ancient magic could do I could not refute his statement. The magic is . . . strange, and in some ways does not appear to be magic at all.”
Jack thought of the map, of how light had flowed from it to display the world. “What I’ve seen looks like dwarven engineering,” he said.
“I thought the same thing,” she said, and offered a smile.
He didn’t return it.
“What about this vault?” Jack asked. “Why does he want this relic?”
“It’s a beacon that will alert his people to his presence,” she replied. “Once they know he’s here, they will come.”
“You think more ancients on Lumineia are a good thing?”
“He just wants to go home,” she said.
“Why is there doubt in your voice?”
She didn’t answer, and Jack didn’t press the issue. The next morning they rose and advanced north across the perimeter of the Fractured Plains. At the northern end of the stone they climbed into the far northern foothills. The towering mountains in the east were already covered in snow, while the west led to an endless expanse of sand dunes.
“Fill your skin,” she advised, and stepped to a trickling stream. “We’ll be in the sands for some time and water will be scarce.”
Jack followed her lead but crinkled his nose. “I hate sand in my boots.”
“Then you will hate the next few days,” she said. “Windstorms are common here, and sand will find a way into everything you wear.”
“You don’t make it sound appealing.”
She laughed and rose to her feet. “Let’s get moving.”
“What’s in the sands?”
“The Irilian Shield,” she said. “It’s home to the largest tribe of sand trolls but they merely use it as a barrier against storms. It’s one of the last remaining structures built by the ancients.”
They set off into the shifting sands, and in minutes Jack was drenched in sweat. Bound on three sides by mountains, the sands received little rainfall. Even this late in the season the air and ground were hot, burning through Jack’s boots. The toll of hiking endless dunes caused Lorelia to extinguish her spell of beauty. At first she threw him apprehensive looks but he made no comment on her distorted features.
The night descended quickly and brought a welcome relief from the searing sunlight. They camped in the sand, and Jack fell asleep listening to the wind scrape across his body. Rising with the dawn, they set out again. They stumbled on an oasis shortly after noon, and gratefully filled their water skins before pressing on.
The blistering sun beat down on them as they fought their way north. They took to resting during the day and walking at night, but that left them shivering when the temperatures plummeted upon nightfall. A week after entering the sands Jack wanted to turn back and murder Skorn in his bed.
Shortly after sunset they spotted a pair of sand trolls hiking nearby. At seven feet tall the hulking trolls were shorter than their rock troll cousins. They wore animal skins for protection from the elements and strode across the sands like it was a street in Griffin.
Jack and Lorelia exchanged a look, and then began to follow the pair’s footprints. Evidently unconcerned by pursuit, the two sand trolls led them northwest as stars appeared in the sky. Just as the last of the light slipped away they crested a dune and the Irilian Shield came into view.
Five massive towers of white twined together like twisting vines, supporting a massive umbrella above the entire village. Curved and graceful, the barrier exuded power. The sand trolls had taken up refuge beneath the shield and built homes, shops, and even troughs to water their gardens. A small ancient structure sat beneath the shield at the center. Water bubbled up from the roof, indicating it had been placed over a spring and brought the life-giving liquid to the surface.
Although night had fallen, the streets were spotted with torchlight. Male and female trolls toiled together, curing meat, tending the gardens, or transporting water in earthen pots. Light glowed from within the brick homes, as did the soft echo of laughter.
Jack glanced at Lorelia when he heard it. “They are not like the rock trolls?”
“They train to fight,” she replied, “but no more than the other races. They are nomadic and peaceful most of the time. They may lack the warlike nature of their cousins, but they are still more powerful than us.”
“Did the ancients ever do anything small?” Jack asked, gesturing to the shield.
She grinned at his tone. “The Gate lies on the summit.”
Curious despite the circumstances, Jack stepped off the dune and advanced toward the village. With nightfall upon them they had no trouble approaching the village, but as they neared Jack made out the sentries—some of which were rock trolls. Lorelia cursed under her breath and shifted deeper into the darkness.
“What are they doing here?” Jack hissed.
“Outcasts,” Lorelia murmured. “I heard some still lived with the tribe.”
Jack gauged the distance to the edge of the dome, but it was well out of range for a shadowhook. Then he thought of an idea and smirked.
“Remember the spider you sent me as a message?”
She met his gaze, a smile crossing her scarred face. “You think it would work?”
“Everyone is afraid of spiders,” Jack said, “especially if they are giant and glowing.”
Her grin widened and light began to gather about her form. Drawn from the moonlight, it warped across her hands and flowed into a tiny creature at her feet. It glowed on the sand and skittered about as if eager for battle, and a moment later another joined the first, and then another. Soon there were dozens of spiders crawling over their boots.
Then Lorelia’s eyes brightened and she poured her magic into them, causing them to swell in size. Even though Jack knew they were harmless, he shuddered when a giant spider crawled up his arm.
“Get ready to run, Jack”
Chapter 36: Broken
The trolls noticed the glow and drew their weapons. They called a challenge but no one answered. Then a horde of giant spiders burst into view. Skittering across the sand, the glowing creatures charged the trolls.
Cries of alarm turned to confusion when the lead spider jumped to one of the sand trolls and ascended to his face. Although it did no harm, the mere sight of a giant spider biting at his face was sufficient to cause him to shriek in fear. A rock troll caught a second and dispassionately buried his huge sword into the light, ripping through the magic. As the magic disintegrated he shouted that they were merely illusions, but his voice was lost in the din.
As trolls converged on the spiders, Jack and Lorelia bolted from cover and threaded their way into the village. Then they made thei
r way to one of the pillars that ascended two hundred feet to the shield. By shadowhook and hand they climbed, slipping into ceiling shadows as the spider army disintegrated. Clinging to the side of the pillar, Jack and Lorelia grinned at each other.
“Your smile makes you pretty,” Jack said. “You don’t need the mask.”
She flushed and her flawless face reappeared. Without a word she ascended to the top of the pillar where it fused into the shield. Jack joined her and together they launched their shadowhooks. Twin threads of ink exploded from their gauntlets and streaked away to catch the lip of the shield. Then they released and swung over the milling crowd below.
Like two passing shadows they soared down and up, and Jack thumbed the rune that drew him in. As the arc tightened he accelerated. He tightened his grip as his swing sharpened, lifting him over the lip and onto the shield. He extinguished the magic and alighted, and Lorelia landed at his side.
Smooth and rising in a giant arc, the Irilian Shield rose to a gentle mound. Dust and sand covered the whitish material, making it dingy and aged. It also made it slick, and both of them slipped several times. By the time they reached the top, it became clear that no one had set foot on the shield in ages.
The summit of the ancient structure was nothing more than a smooth curve, with no adornments or decorations to mark its purpose. Underwhelmed, Jack looked at the giant mound sloping away from them.
“Is this it?”
She nodded and bent to examine the surface of the shield. “Skorn said there are several entrances to the vault throughout Lumineia, but this one is rarely used since the trolls took up residence. Do you have the keys?”
“I don’t have them.”
She snapped a look up at him. “I’m in no mood for games, Jack. Do not forget that our friends’ lives hang in the balance.”
“My friends,” Jack said. “If they were your friends you wouldn’t have handed them over to Skorn.”
Anger flashed across her face but she reined it in. “Are you going to open the vault or not?”