Heart of the Land

by Sarah Prineas

Anka turned to face them. Her skin, Rollan noticed, had taken on a greenish tinge, making her blend into the forest. “Weren’t you … browner before?” he asked her.

  She shot him an annoyed look.

  He grinned back at her. Having Anka around to aggravate was going to be fun.

  “You’re a Greencloak?” Meilin asked Anka, beginning the questions.

  Anka turned to show off the green cloak she wore. “Obviously.”

  “There’s nothing obvious about it,” Meilin shot back. “At the meeting in the Citadel, there was an attack by Greencloaks. Olvan said they were new recruits. And we’ve never seen you before. How do we know we can trust you? How do we know you’re not one of those false Greencloaks?”

  “Fakecloaks,” Rollan put in.

  “I’ve been around,” Anka said, folding her arms. “You just never noticed me.”

  Abeke made the connection. “Oh, I get it. The way the guards didn’t notice us in the courtyard. Chameleon spirit animal?”

  Anka gave a smug nod.

  “Can we see him?” Abeke asked. She turned and spoke to Conor. “Chameleons are really cute. Have you ever seen one before?”

  Conor shook his head. “Never.”

  “Toey is shy,” Anka said, her usually sharp voice softening for the first time. “You might catch a glimpse of him now and then.”

  Meilin still looked suspicious. Rollan caught her eye. “She’s telling the truth, as far as I can see,” he told her. “I think we can trust her.”

  “Oh, thank you,” Anka said sarcastically. “I save you from the Citadel and you think you can trust me?”

  “We’ve seen betrayal before.” Meilin’s face was serious. She patted the pouch where she’d put the gift from Olvan. “And we have a mission. We can’t be too careful.”

  Rollan saw Briggan prick up his ears and then nudge Conor’s leg with his nose. In response, Conor cocked his head, listening. “Uh, we’d better keep moving. I think the Citadel has sent somebody after us.”

  “Oathbound,” Anka told them. “They’re expert trackers—we have to go. Now.”

  THE OATHBOUND WERE RELENTLESS.

  They tracked the five Greencloaks all afternoon, never giving them time to rest or even catch their breaths. Abeke was glad she’d spent the months after the defeat of the Wyrm hunting in Nilo. It meant she could run for a long time without getting tired.

  As the sun set and the forest grew darker and colder, Abeke followed Anka through the pine trees, Uraza at her side and Meilin a step behind. Next came Rollan, with Conor and Briggan bringing up the rear.

  The sounds of pursuit had fallen away behind them, but Abeke knew the Oathbound were following. Still, they had to rest sometime. Anka couldn’t keep leading them on through the entire night. Or could she?

  Abeke paused and let Rollan and Meilin pass her, and then fell into step beside Conor. Uraza and Briggan trailed behind them. “I keep thinking about Olvan,” Abeke whispered. The last they’d seen of the Greencloak leader, he’d fallen to the floor after being bitten by the Oathbound leader’s stone viper. “The snake’s poison,” she went on. “Do you think it killed him?”

  “There is an antidote,” Conor responded. He shot her a worried look. “They would give it to him, wouldn’t they? They wouldn’t let him die?”

  “I hope not,” Abeke said grimly. She wished she could go back to the Citadel and help Olvan, but she knew that all they could do was try to fulfill the mission he’d given them. If they could figure out what they were supposed to do.

  She checked Conor and saw he looked pale. Dark smudges under his eyes showed how tired he was. Because of the nightmares, he hadn’t had enough sleep for weeks. Or for even longer—not since he had been taken by the Wyrm. He couldn’t keep up this pace. But she knew he wouldn’t complain.

  They walked on as night fell and a full moon rose above the forest, bright enough that they could see where they were going. Silver-edged shadows lurked beyond the path, and a cold breeze blew through the branches overhead.

  After another hour of walking without the sounds of Oathbound pursuers, Anka called a halt. The four kids gathered around her. “Meilin,” Anka said, keeping her voice low, “you said you have a mission. We need to know where we’re going.”

  Meilin gave a weary sigh. “I have no idea what Olvan wanted us to do.” She took the cloth-wrapped gift out of the pouch. “He gave us this and said it had to be revealed, whatever that means.” Carefully, she unwrapped the gift.

  In the pale moonlight, it looked like …

  “It’s a rock,” Rollan said.

  Abeke tossed her braids over her shoulder and leaned closer to see. He was right. It was a scaly-looking black rock about the size of a baby’s fist.

  “Ah.” Anka reached out a finger to touch the rock, then drew back. “I know what this is, and what you’re supposed to do with it.”

  “How do you know?” Meilin asked suspiciously.

  “You may not have noticed me before,” Anka said, “but I am a Greencloak. And I know some secrets that have not been revealed to you.”

  “But you’re going to reveal them now, right?” Rollan put in.

  Anka looked around at the dark forest. There was no sound of pursuit. “We can sit and rest for a few minutes, and I’ll tell you.”

  Relieved, Abeke and the other kids sank wearily to the ground. Uraza crouched close beside Abeke. Essix had flown down to perch on a nearby branch. The moonlight filtered between the trees, pushing back the shadows. Despite the light, Abeke could barely make out Anka’s figure; thanks to her chameleon spirit animal, she blended in with the night.

  Anka spoke from the shadows. “This rock is not what it appears to be. It’s one of a set of four items precious to the Greencloaks. Olvan knew this. Why didn’t he tell you when he gave it to you?”

  “We didn’t exactly have time,” Conor said. At his side, Briggan flopped down to lie with his big head on Conor’s foot.

  Anka nodded, understanding. “Olvan would have told you that long ago, the four regions of Erdas bestowed the Greencloaks with gifts as thanks for ending the First Devourer War. Four items wielded by four ancient heroes of Erdas—”

  “Four items,” Rollan put in, “wielded by four heroes?”

  “Don’t interrupt,” Anka said sharply.

  “Yeah, but I can’t help but notice that me, Conor, Abeke, and Meilin add up to four,” Rollan said.

  “And you didn’t even have to count on your fingers,” Anka sniped. “Now be quiet so I can tell you the rest.” She paused, then shrugged. “But it probably is important that there are four of you, each from a different region. It makes sense that this quest would fall to you. Anyway, the four gifts were symbols that the Greencloaks were of and for all Erdas.”

  “Not broken up, as the leaders seem to want now,” Meilin observed.

  “No,” Anka said. “Greencloaks united. Loyal to each other. Willing to serve all nations.”

  “So, back to the rock that is more than it seems,” Rollan reminded her.

  “Yes.” Anka pointed to the rock. “As its gift, Amaya sent a legendary polished jewel called the Heart of the Land. As you can see, it’s been disguised somehow, and it must be revealed. Zhong gave something called the Dragon’s Eye. Nilo and Eura gave gifts, too, but I can’t remember their names. The gifts, all except for the Heart, have been hidden.”

  “And we have to find them,” Abeke realized. “If there are four gifts that are meant to show the four lands that the Greencloaks are for everyone, then we need to find them all.”

  “We should reveal the Heart first,” Meilin said. “Like Olvan ordered. The only question is how?”

  “Amaya,” Anka said softly. “I don’t know much, but there’s a place in the region that’s connected to the gift.”

  “Wait a minute,” Rollan said, pointing at the rock. “We have this object, right? And we’re supposed to collect these other objects and use them to save the world? Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”<
br />
  “No,” Meilin answered. “Before, the Greencloaks had to save the world—”

  “Twice,” Abeke and Conor said at the same time.

  “But this time,” Meilin went on, “for the world, we have to save the Greencloaks.” She held out the rock, a dark lump in her hand. “So we’ll take up this quest to reveal the Heart of the Land and then find all the gifts?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Abeke said without hesitating, putting her hand onto Meilin’s, feeling the rough surface of the rock under her palm.

  “Yes,” Conor agreed, putting his hand over hers.

  “Definitely,” Rollan said, and put his hand on the top.

  “For the Greencloaks,” Meilin said solemnly.

  “For the Greencloaks,” Abeke, Conor, and Rollan repeated.

  Abeke looked around at her friends, the three people she trusted most in the world. Anka, she realized, had faded completely away. For a moment, Abeke felt sorry for her. The chameleon made it so she was always around, but never noticed.

  Then Abeke’s keen senses went on the alert. While they’d been talking, the wind had stilled and the forest had grown completely silent. Too silent. Fog was creeping in, flowing like long, white snakes between the tree trunks.

  Anka appeared again, standing a few paces farther down the path. She whirled to face the kids. “We’ve stopped for too long. The Oathbound are coming.”

  Abeke leaped up. “We can’t let them catch us.”

  As she stood, Meilin wrapped up the Heart of the Land. She quickly stowed it in her belt pouch.

  Abeke checked Conor. He was getting to his feet slowly. “Are you all right?” she asked him.

  “I’m fine,” he answered, but she didn’t think he was.

  Essix took off from her branch, quickly disappearing into the night. “So we’re heading for Amaya?” Rollan asked.

  “Less talking, more running away,” Anka said, appearing at his side. “They’re coming. Let’s go!”

  Wearily slinging her bow over her shoulder, Abeke got ready to run for the rest of the night.

  THE ROCK WASN’T HEAVY, BUT MEILIN FELT THE BURDEN of carrying it.

  For three days and three nights they traveled through the forest, with the Oathbound in pursuit. Anka led them along the southern coast of Eura, heading for a port where they could get a ship to Amaya. The Oathbound wouldn’t be able to track them over the sea, so they’d be free to reveal the rock and find the other three gifts that had come down to them from the time of legends.

  But the four Greencloaks and Anka still had to get away from their pursuers. They slept only in snatches, with one person on guard, until all of them felt so weary it was like they were carrying loads of bricks on their backs.

  One day at sunset, they stopped in a clearing in a pine forest to eat a cold dinner—they made no fire to give them away to the trackers—and huddled together, shivering, as the twilight advanced. During the day Anka had left them for a time, to slip into a village and buy supplies. At least, Meilin hoped she’d paid for the food; with her chameleon spirit animal, Anka would probably make a very good thief. Maybe that was why Rollan seemed to like her so much, despite her sharp voice and her short temper.

  “What am I eating?” Rollan asked, inspecting the food Anka had given him.

  “Meat,” she answered.

  “I don’t even want to ask this question,” Rollan said, taking a bite, “but what kind of meat?”

  “The chewy kind,” Anka answered.

  “Mmm,” Rollan mumbled. “My favorite.”

  Conor, Meilin noticed, had fallen asleep already, with his head on Abeke’s shoulder, his dinner uneaten.

  Meilin was glad for Jhi’s warm, furry bulk at her back. With a sigh, she ate her serving of “meat” and a hard biscuit, and listened to Rollan and Anka talking.

  “So this quest we’re on. How do we reveal what is hidden?” Rollan asked. He shifted closer, so his shoulder was touching Meilin’s.

  “Greencloak lore says that the rock is called the Heart of the Land,” Anka answered. “And it comes from Amaya, where there is a place called the Heart of the Land. An island in the middle of the large lake that lies to the northeast of Concorba.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard of the lake,” Rollan said. “So we have to go there?”

  “It’s the most likely place.” Anka’s voice answered, but Meilin couldn’t see the young woman anymore; she’d faded away as the forest grew darker.

  “Can we rest here tonight?” Abeke whispered. “Conor needs to sleep some more.”

  Anka didn’t answer, so Meilin spoke for her. “We’ll stay for as long as we can.”

  They sat quietly for a few minutes. As the sun set completely, the moon rose, flooding the clearing with silvery light.

  “If the rock is from Amaya,” Rollan asked, “and I am from Amaya, why didn’t Olvan give it to me to carry?”

  “Because I’m the responsible one,” Meilin said, smiling to herself.

  Rollan bumped her shoulder with his, and she heard him laugh.

  Then it occurred to her that maybe Rollan should be the one carrying the Heart of the Land. She sat up. “Anka said the four gifts were wielded by four heroes. That means they must have some power, don’t you think?”

  Anka answered from the shadows. “It is likely that the gifts are more than just symbols. We just don’t know what power they have.”

  Meilin dug the rock from her pouch and unwrapped it. “Here,” she said, holding it out to Rollan. “Take it.” When he did, she asked, “Do you feel anything? Any connection? Any power?”

  Rollan closed his hand around the bumpy rock, waiting to see if anything happened. “Nope,” he answered at last. “Nothing.”

  “Because it’s hidden. It hasn’t been revealed yet,” Anka said impatiently. “Until then it really is just a rock.”

  Rollan handed it back to Meilin, and she put it away again. She leaned back against Jhi, who sighed and shifted to make herself more comfortable. Looking up at the sky, she saw the pinpricks of stars. Something drifted across her vision. It was a faint thread, glinting in the moonlight. Sleepily, she watched it unspool across the clearing. Then another silvery thread floated past, just overhead. They looked like silk. So pretty.

  Across from her, Conor jerked awake. “They’re coming,” he blurted.

  Meilin sat up and listened. She heard nothing but the wind in the trees. “Are you sure?” Maybe it was another one of Conor’s bad dreams.

  Abeke was getting to her feet, checking her bow and quiver, which had just one arrow in it. “Yes, he’s sure,” she said, as Conor stood up with Briggan beside him.

  Meilin stood as well, then offered her hand to Rollan. She hauled him to his feet. “I don’t hear anything,” he said.

  “Shhh,” cautioned Anka. “They could be sneaking up on us. Put your animals into passive state. We’ll go quietly, and I’ll hide us, just in case.”

  Without speaking, the five Greencloaks left the clearing. Meilin led the way. Thanks to Anka’s chameleon, when Meilin glanced over her shoulder to check on the others, they all looked like nothing more than shadows gliding through the darkness. Essix, who refused to go into passive state unless it was absolutely necessary, flew from branch to branch. The falcon flew on silent wings and wouldn’t give them away.

  The path was like a dark tunnel before them. Meilin paced along it, trying to stay quiet. As she walked, a thin thread of spidersilk broke across her face. She brushed it away and kept going.

  Then, ahead, she saw an entire spiderweb stretched across the path. It was about the size of a shield, and it glinted in the moonlight. A little dark blob of a spider sat in its center.

  Meilin was not afraid of spiders. At least, that’s what she told herself. Ever since she and Abeke had seen Shane’s sister, Drina, killed by her own spider spirit animal, she’d felt a little queasy about them. And then there had been the Webmother in the dark passages of Sadre. She tried to think of spiders as mice. Cute, furry, b
aby mice that happened to have eight legs and completely creepy eyes. And fangs …

  As Meilin cautiously approached the web, she reached to sweep it out of her way. But the threads were like glue—they stuck to her arm. Two more steps, and another web appeared in her path, at the same height as her head. Before she could duck, she’d stepped into it—and the sticky threads wrapped around her face like a net. “Ick,” she whispered.

  She stumbled to a halt, trying to wipe the web out of her eyes.

  “What’s the matter?” Rollan whispered, right behind her.

  “I’m just … stuck!” she answered. Finally she managed to scrape it away, just in time to see something plummet from the trees and land at Rollan’s feet.

  “Essix!” Rollan exclaimed, and crouched beside her. The falcon was wrapped entirely in sticky spiderweb. She shrieked, outraged.

  A skittering sound came from the forest all around them.

  Meilin caught a glimpse of something moving through the branches.

  No, not something. Lots of things—spiders, thousands of spiders. They were led by one spider larger than the others, which moved with uncanny intelligence.

  In a flash, she realized what was happening. “One of the Oathbound has a spider spirit animal!” she shouted. And it had called other spiders to help it spin webs to entrap them.

  “Run!” Abeke yelled.

  Rollan scooped the entangled Essix into his arms and sprinted past Meilin.

  Meilin started to follow when she heard a shriek from behind and turned to see Abeke wrapped in web, struggling to get free. Conor was frantically ripping at webbing that had covered his feet, holding him in place.

  A second later, Meilin felt something—a mouse-sized spider crawling up the back of her neck. More spiders leaped at her from the trees, trailing threads of sticky web. As she went to draw her sword, another web, as wide as a net, drifted down from the trees, covering all five of the Greencloaks. They fought as it settled over them, but the harder they struggled, the more tangled they became, until they could barely move. Spiders crawled all over them, as if checking to be sure they were really caught. Meilin shuddered as a spider walked right over her face.