by Joshua Cook
“Got to run,” Sal said.
Marcus rolled his eyes and motioned for Sal to follow as they took off towards the exit. Jasmine was annoyed at Cendan’s tardiness. “Cendan, this is important. We have to hurry!”
Cendan nodded. “Sorry, lost in thought.” Which was true for once. He took his focus, feeling its presence in his mind once more. He also noticed the feeling of safety and permanence in the room was much weaker with all the foci taken out of the pattern.
“Let’s run!” Jasmine said and took off towards the exit as well, leaving Cendan to follow behind.
“How are we going to get anywhere—there’s only the one car!” Cendan yelled as they ran.
“We have more than one!” Jasmine yelled back. She whipped out her focus, and held it up to the wall, with Cendan doing the same as soon as he got there. The wall opened, and the now familiar wrenching feeling as they walked from the hallway to the stairs passed quickly. The gate above was already open, and they ascended to the air above, taking the steps two at a time.
“Lead on,” Cendan said, unsure of where to go from here.
Jasmine threw him a thumbs-up and took off running down the street. Cendan took off after her, uncertain where they were going.
“Parking garage,” Jasmine said. “We have three cars there, but we just don’t use them as often. Don’t have doubles much—it’s been over a year since the last one.”
Arriving at the garage, they quickly made their way to a dark sedan that was a few years old, but in good shape. “It’s plain on purpose.” Jasmine said as they got in and buckled up. “Marcus never wants anything that draws attention to us. Says it keeps us safe, well… safer.”
“Why did he send you with me and not come with me himself?” Cendan asked as they started out. “I mean, I would think he’d want to keep a very tight eye on me after the last twenty-four hours.”
“I asked him to let me handle it,” Jasmine said. “Marcus can be… difficult. He’s a good man, but he’s very set in his ways. I hoped that if you and I were here together, things would be smoother. You need to understand, Cendan—Marcus feels very angry about you keeping things from us. Hell, I’m angry. But it’s different with me. I know you. I know that in your mind, there was a reason. You don’t do anything without a reason. Marcus doesn’t know you the same way I do.” Jasmine spun the wheel, taking a corner way to fast.
“Hey, it doesn’t help us drive off who knows what and close a Bridge if we are dead!” Cendan grabbed the armrest tightly. He had almost forgotten that Jasmine wasn’t the world’s best driver. “And that makes sense with Marcus, I guess. I just, well, as you said… you know me. I need to be sure of anything before I make my move.”
“I know.” Jasmine laughed. “I waited three months for you to ask me out. You were always talking around it, but never actually asking. And I’ll have you know, I still have never gotten a ticket for anything!”
“Never getting a ticket doesn’t mean you can drive,” Cendan answered. “Just how far away is this Bridge?”
The car screeched to a stop outside what had been a cement plant. Cendan had worked a job once here, years ago.
“We’re here.” Jasmine readied herself. “Be careful, the map was showing four leaves. And in places like this, the Slyph uses some of her newer creations. So no goblins or gremlins, nothing humanoid. There are darker things, insectile and frankly somewhat alien.”
“Nice,” Cendan muttered as he left the car. “I noticed you call the Slyph a her. Marcus doesn’t do that though he’s slipped a few times.”
“Well think about it. For all intents and purposes, the Slyph is the ‘mother’ of all these creatures. So, the Slyph is a she to my mind,” Jasmine answered. “Stay close—with only two of us here, we search together, no splitting up.”
Cendan did as she suggested. He paid attention to his own body, feeling for the same reactions to the Bridge that he had felt with the Trixies the day before. Was that a tingle in his left arm? Jasmine paused in front of him and pointed that way.
Following her, Cendan felt the tingles get stronger. He was getting better at this after all. They turned the corner behind a pile of sand and saw the Bridge. It was a hole in space with glowing circuits and connections dancing around the edges to Cendan’s eyes. What was more alarming were the creatures that thankfully had their backs to them. Two of them were huge, eight-foot-high things, with mouths covering every inch of their bodies that he could see. Each mouth was quivering, breathing, noisy.
The two smaller creatures were insectile, just as Jasmine has said. They were bone-white, long like a centipede, but had no antennae to speak of. They were making a clacking noise, but Cendan couldn’t see what was causing it.
Jasmine grabbed Cendan and pulled him behind the sand. “Damn it, I forgot the bag in the trunk. Let’s go get it. Two Jabbers and two things I’ve never seen mean we be careful.” Cendan nodded, but a thought occurred to him—a plan quickly came to his mind.
“You go, I’ll stay—out of sight, I promise, but that way if they move, we’ll know where they are,” Cendan said. “I promise, I won’t do anything other than hide until I see you back here with the bag.”
Jasmine started to protest, but stopped. “I guess. But don’t make me regret this, Cendan.” And with that, she took off for the car.
Cendan had no intention of trying anything, at least not until she got back. This was going to have to be carefully timed, but it was the best chance he could see. One of the large things, what Jasmine had called Jabbers, turned his way, and Cendan could see with some disgust that there was no face, just more mouths. All he could see were different lips, different teeth, and different tongues. The two smaller creatures started to sway in time to the clacking noise they were making, like music, but a music he’d never heard and didn’t want to hear ever again.
Finally, one of the pale centipede things turned towards him enough for him to see the front of it, which nearly made him retch in disgust. It had a face, a face that was surprisingly human, if not for the eyes being compound and the weirdly moving small tentacles around its mouth. Cendan kept down his breakfast and tried to keep quiet and calm. Whatever the creatures were doing, they were still far enough away that they couldn’t really see him. He wondered if smell or even the taste of the wind could carry his location to them, but quickly dropped that line of thinking, not really wanting to know that answer.
Finally, he heard Jasmine running back, not as quickly this time since she was weighed down with this large heavy duffel bag that Cendan assumed was full of capture gear. “Anything new?” she asked, panting a bit.
“Just got a look at the front side of one of those bug things—freaky in a bad way,” Cendan replied. He noticed something he hadn’t before then—Jasmine was grinning, flat-out, ear-to-ear grinning.
“Why are you so happy about this?” he blurted out.
“Well…” The sound of the bag’s zipper cut through the air “This is what I live for, Cendan. I dated you, but this is my life. It’s been my life since I was very young, and it will be my life for years to come.” Rummaging around in the bag, she pulled out a set of earplugs for them both. “Put these in first. Jabbers make a lot of noise when they are contained before we send them back. No earplugs can mean shattered eardrums.”
“Can’t other people hear that? Why don’t they come investigate?” Cendan asked, eyeing the ear plugs. “I mean, a noise that loud should carry far, right?”
“Well, normal people may hear it, but they think it’s a loud truck horn, or maybe a foghorn, or even a prank. Regular people are very good at finding excuses for things they don’t understand,” Jasmine responded, holding out what looked like a large gun to Cendan. “Expanding foam. It expands twenty times upon impact, and dries rock hard as it expands. We’ll use this on both—Jabbers first, and then the bug things. We also banish the Jabbers first. People can rationalize quite well, but let’s not draw attention to anything.”
Cendan just
nodded. Jasmine was in her element. This was a part of her he’d not seen, even with their past history. While there wasn’t any real attraction left between them, he could appreciate the fact that she was doing what she truly loved. You could see it etched on her face.
“Okay, earplugs in—we go together. Jabbers first, bugs second. Banish the Jabbers first, then the bugs, and then close the Bridge.” Jasmine numbered them off as she talked. “Remember, earplugs first. I don’t need a deaf Maker on my hands!” With a grin, she stood and placed her ear plugs in her ears.
Cendan stood and put his in as well. He felt bad about what was about to happen, but only for a moment. If all went well, this would get them what they needed the most, though he knew Jasmine was going to get the full brunt of Marcus’s full rage and anger. Hopefully this was all going to be worth it.
Chapter Nine
Nodding to Jasmine, she turned and took off, running full force towards the creatures at the Bridge. Foam shot out in large blobs from her launcher, hitting one Jabber full in the knee, and quickly making it trip as the expanding foam got the leg as well. The two centipedes reared up and screamed, but thankfully the earplugs kept the noise down, or Cendan was sure he would have collapsed then and there in agony.
Cendan opened fire as well, getting the other Jabber down with multiple hits to the legs. He then started firing at the closest bone bug, aiming for its face, if only because he never wanted to see it again. “Jasmine! Fire together at the one on the right!” The thing was dodging his shots—hopefully it couldn’t dodge both. It did dodge his, but Jasmine’s shots hit it all over the right side, and it fell over, its writhing on the ground caused the rest of it to get bound up with the foam. One Jabber began to yell, a loud and deep moan that made Cendan’s bones shake as though they were being rattled in a dice cup.
Jasmine shook his arm and pointed. The other bug thing was trying to get away. Cendan ran after it, firing and finally getting a lucky shot off and pinning its back end to a conveyor belt.
A few more shots to cover up that face, and Cendan felt a surge of both relief and fear. Jasmine already had her focus out, and he followed suit, dropping the foam launcher. He concentrated and felt the first Jabber pop back into the world it came from. The same happened with the second though the moans and yells from it gave him a mighty headache. Relief only came when the thing also vanished like a popping soap bubble. The first bone centipede was easy to send back as it wasn’t even aware that it was going to happen. Its head and face were covered by the foam thanks to its constant wriggling. For all the creatures, while they went back, the foam stayed behind, leaving a perfect imprint of what had been caught in it. They quickly walked over to the last bone centipede and heard it laugh. A small corner of its tentacle-ringed mouth was free, and it made use of it. “Maker born... Maker slave.” It tried to lunge forward to grab Cendan, but the foam still held it tight.
Jasmine and Cendan exchanged eye contact. The Slyph must have told its creatures about the new Maker. “Just great,” Cendan said, even if Jasmine couldn’t hear him. He held up his focus along with her, and together, they sent the thing back. Jasmine took out her ear plugs and motioned for him to do the same.
“Good work, but it’s not good that they already know what you are. C’mon, let’s get that Bridge closed.” Jasmine hurried back to the Bridge.
Cendan followed and calmed himself. He hoped this would work. All the evidence, though mostly hearsay and conjecture, said that it would. It wasn’t much of a chance, and one that under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have taken. There wasn’t any other way—at least, not one that gave him a chance. Any other method would leave him entirely at the mercy of the Slyph to start with, and that was a no-win situation.
Jasmine was already standing, focus in hand. Cendan stood beside her, held up his focus, and then pushed her down, sending her focus flying.
“Cendan!” Jasmine yelled, “What the—”
Cendan didn’t hear anymore, as he took a deep breath, held his focus in front of him, and dove for the Bridge.
As he crossed the threshold, he felt a now familiar wrenching and stretching feeling, but it was stronger than what he’d felt when he entered the Bridgefinders’ lair. That had been unsettling, but this was actually painful. Mentally, he kept pushing the Bridge closed behind him and hoping that he didn’t emerge right into those creatures they had sent back. He wasn’t sure what would happen if that was the case.
In his mind’s eye, he tried to steer his exit to somewhere safe—if only by repeating it in his mind over and over again. This wrenching and tearing feeling went on for far longer than the other had as well, right as he was wondering if he’d made a mistake, he emerged, flying through the air and landing with a thud on grass and flowers.
Cendan stood quickly, but didn’t see any creatures there—for now, at least. The air was sweet. He was here. He knew it in his bones—he was in the Echo World. He had, in fact, made it.
The very first thing he noticed was that his focus felt odd. The key, normally warm and comforting, now felt cold and weak. The feeling of comfort still greeted him but it had greatly diminished, which in light of recent disclosures, made sense. If he and the other Bridgefinders were using magic, the magic of their own world, being here in the Echo World would place a great deal of distance on that magic. It was still there as well, but not as strong. It also explained a question he’d been pondering since he learned about Oakheart.
If the Slyph was draining power from Oakheart, a Maker, why had she been so slow and careful about it? Why not create an army of Grellnots? She couldn’t though. If his world’s magic was weaker there, then the Slyph had to be very careful not to over-pull it through Oakheart—which also meant that whatever powers he had were going to be weaker there.
He was just about to try to find his bearings when the flip side of all this hit him—if all that was true, then the creatures were even stronger there. That did not make him feel good.
The day was rent suddenly by the sounds of a roar so loud Cendan went down to his knees and grabbed for the ear plugs he had placed in his pocket. He didn’t see anything, though in this place, he wasn’t sure if that really meant anything. He was, however, out in the open, and being the lone human being in this whole world, wanted by the godlike creators of all life on this planet, being out in the middle of a field probably wasn’t the best choice. Scanning his surroundings, he saw a row of hills off to the east, forested and green. That would be better than standing there in the open, or at least, he hoped so.
Cendan took off at a steady pace, glancing around to see if he saw the source of that roar, but there was nothing. The air was fresh and clean. He found himself somewhat surprised at that, but then wondered why. Truthfully, he didn’t know what to expect of this world. The dream communication he’d had with the Slyph was one thing, but actually being here in this place was another. Still, there was something about the area that, regardless of how peaceful and green it was, set his teeth on edge.
Then, he realized—there were no bugs. When he was a child, Cendan had grown up in the country, and had strong memories of walking through tall grass and seeing all the grasshoppers and other insects getting out of his way. Here, however, there was nothing. In fact, there were no animals at all—no birds in the sky, and no evidence of any other animals. Other than that roar he had heard once, he was the only living creature here that he could see.
That was far from true, but still, it was eerie. “Though being in a magical Echo World isn’t spooky enough,” Cendan muttered. Once he reached those trees, he had to take stock of where he was and determine what the next step would be. He didn’t know where Oakheart was, nor where he was really. He wasn’t sure how big the Echo World was. Was it a twin of earth? That was a lot of planet to search for one tree. Maybe this was a very bad idea after all.
The roar came again as he neared the tree line, but it was farther away now. He hoped that the sound meant whatever was making the noise was
moving in the opposite direction. The trees were close, which meant some cover. Cendan was still taking stock of his surroundings while he traveled, noting that he wasn’t hot, or cold. There were no clouds, and the sun was overhead, but it wasn’t too bright. Of course, everything here bowed to the whims of the Slyph—weather, the sun, the moon if there was one—every living thing in this world owed its existence to the Slyph. And all of it could change in a moment, at her whim.
Cendan finally arrived at the tree line and felt safer though he knew that was only in his head. His first issue was now how he was going to find Oakheart. He brainstormed some ideas and tossed them aside almost as soon as they occurred to him. No creature would be likely to help him here, so that was out. He could get himself captured on purpose and taken to the Slyph—she probably kept Oakheart nearby, as he was one of her prized possessions. However, that plan was based on the idea that whatever creature captured him wouldn’t just do him in instead, if it even knew the Slyph wanted him alive.
Taking out his ear plugs—there wasn’t any need for them now as far as he could tell—his fingers brushed against the key in his pocket. It was still cool to the touch, and that startled him for a split second. The key… could he use it to find Oakheart? It had belonged to him once, and it was part of the magic of Cendan’s world, as was Oakheart. “Like attracts like, right?” Cendan asked himself.
“Only sometimes.” A voice came from behind him, strong and clear. Cendan jumped and spun around, and for a second, was speechless at the sight before him. There were elves—tall, thin, regal elves. They all rode on what looked like horses, but with the wrong proportions. Cendan also noted that none of them were particularly armed. “This is a bit of a surprise. A human man, here, in our world?” an elf clad in green and gold said.