by Joshua Cook
Cendan said nothing, but shrugged. He had to keep his eyes on the creature and keep him talking. And think. Lachnin had said that the Slyph and Grellnot had had a falling-out—maybe he could use that? But why? And how?
He needed more information—there were too many branches!
“She would reward Grellnot for bringing you to her. Have your shiny treasure for Grellnots collection? Maybe a taste of your delicious blood. Finder blood is tasty—Grellnot wonders if Maker blood is tastier still?” Its gray-green tongue flicked out, long and almost greasy in appearance. “Tasty Maker.”
“She won’t let you have anything, Grellnot—she wants everything I have and am. She would leave Grellnot with nothing,” Cendan claimed. This was foolish, but he couldn’t let that thing take him to the Slyph. She might have been on her way as it was.
Grellnot stopped rocking on the branch. “Maker Finder maybe not so stupid. Slyph and Grellnot not get along anymore. Grellnot strong now. Slyph can’t touch Grellnot with her powers—Grellnot beyond that now.”
Cendan raised his eyebrows. If that was true, Grellnot was a far greater threat than they had thought. “Let me go, Grellnot. Forget I was here.”
“Why? Give me a reason, stupid Maker Finder. Grellnot needs a reason to let tasty human leave with his shiny treasure.” The creature grinned, showing its sharp, dirty teeth. “Grellnot is hungry, not want to wait.”
“Listen to me. You know the Slyph is winning. If she takes me, it’s over. She will be able to use complete the merge of the two worlds. It will be done my powers and Oakheart’s to. There won’t be an Echo World or my world anymore.” Cendan took a deep breath. “Why, then, would she need a Grellnot? No finders to feed on, no more shinies, ever. Even tasty humans would be gone.”
Grellnot said nothing, but its eyes narrowed. Cendan continued, hoping this would work. “She may not kill you outright, but what would happen to you if there were no more finders, no more humans? You’d starve.” Cendan couldn’t believe he was really going there with this thing, but if his choices were this or being turned over to the Slyph, or eaten—well, he’d go there.
Grellnot huffed, grimacing as it stood on a branch of Oakheart. Then with a loud slap, it hit itself, over and over again, and began ranting. “Grellnot not like this! Give the stupid human to her, Grellnot not needed, Grellnot starve. Let the stupid human go, and if she finds out, she will make Grellnot starve. Think, Grellnot, think, Grellnot.”
With a bounding leap, Grellnot landed in front of Cendan, groaning. “Grellnot not happy, stupid human. Stupid Finder Maker give Grellnot a headache. Grellnot not want to help Finder Maker. Grellnot not want to starve, either.”
Cendan took a step back. He hadn’t been this close to Grellnot before and had never noticed the smell. A rotten smell, fetid clung to the creature as if it had wallowed in rot and mold for hours. “Choose, Grellnot. Every moment I’m here is a moment closer to the Slyph finding me.”
Grellnot gave a snort and paused. Raising its head, it locked its gaze on Cendan, red irises wide. “Grellnot leave. Grellnot not help you, but not stop the stupid human from leaving. Grellnot only do this one time. Your shiny will be mine, stupid human. Grellnot can smell your blood, your fear. Grellnot very hungry. Grellnot will be happy to feast on that soon, tasty blood, raw and red. Tasty fear, so very hungry Grellnot is…” a growling hiss came from the creature, and momentarily, Cendan wondered if it would attack now, regardless of what it had said.
Grellnot suddenly quieted and its long, filthy ears quivered and rose up higher on its head. “Stupid human leave now. She is coming.” Grellnot whined for a second. “Go, stupid human. Next time, Grellnot feast!” And with a leap, Grellnot left, bounding away to the east.
Cendan let out a breath, he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “That was interesting.”
He took off running north, towards the rock he had first come around to see Oakheart. Not stopping to glance around, he dove for the back side of the rock, hidden from sight. Not quite believing he had managed to escape that situation, he paused, breathing heavily. Once his heartbeat had calmed down, Cendan shook himself and started back to the elves.
What had Oakheart meant about his bargain with the elves being a foolish one? How so? There was more going on with the Elves than they had told him. That was fairly obvious. Did it have something to do with the strange beings with the hoods? There were too many questions, and he still didn’t have enough information to figure things out yet.
Chapter Twelve
The Slyph paused. Oakhearts clearing was just ahead, but something was strange. The air of melancholy had lessened. The Slyph appeared next to Oakheart, frowning. The smell hit her first—Grellnot had been here, but that wasn’t surprising. It had always had a strange attraction to Oakheart. The Slyph wondered if it felt some sort of twisted paternal attraction to the tree, but discarded the thought. Grellnot only cared about food and all of its “shiny treasures.” Annoyance bubbled up in the Slyph. Those foci should be hers! The magic of that world, all magic in every world, should be hers alone!
“How are we today, Oakheart?” the Slyph touched the trunk lightly. She was greeted by silence. Oakheart had been silent to her before, but she’d still been able to sense the last of the human inside, sad and hopeless. But now, there was nothing. “Oakheart?” the Slyph said again, trying to tap into its powers as she had countless times over the years.
But nothing happened. The spirit of the Maker was gone. Oakheart was just a tree now. Anger blossomed through the Slyph, white-hot rage shot through her and into the sky, turning it blood red and fiery. A scream burst though the Slyph, shattering the quiet. Leaves on the tree shook and a number of them fell, shaken loose by the vibration.
Her most prized possession was gone. Oakheart, through which she could tap into the magic of the human’s world, was gone! It was just a stupid oak tree now! Her anger, already hot, hurled forth into actual flame as a huge column of fire burst down from the red sky and struck the tree, destroying it and leaving nothing but ruin.
The ground shook with the impact, and the flame pierced the crust of the echo world, digging deep as the Slyph expanded her anger. Finally hitting molten rock, a spew of lava flew up the path of the fire, finally bursting into the air. The Slyph stood there, suspended in midair, untouched by the newly wrought destruction. Oakheart was gone. Grellnot had been here—had that disgusting creature done something to her tree? Reaching out the Slyph, touched the minds of her creatures. Who has seen Grellnot?
With all the human magic it had absorbed, she could no longer find it on her own. But she would know if any other creatures, her true children, had seen the vile thing. At first, she could find nothing about Grellnot. Some pixies had had a run-in with some Grem, and a gnome had seen some elves pass, riding their Halim hard, away from the area of the tree. Elves. But the gnome had seen them after her temper tantrum—King Lachnin was with them, so he must have been coming to plead with her again.
With a black humor, the Slyph figured they must have seen the fire in the sky and thought better of it. No, the elves were of no concern. Finally, a glimpse of Grellnot came from a bone skate, one that lived near the mountains to the east. Grellnot had been there a while ago, ranting and eating a goblin. Disgust raised up in the Slyph. There had to be a way to get rid of Grellnot. It had outlived its usefulness. Maybe it was time for the cavern after all. Let the thing see if it could survive that, hmm?
The cavern was a huge underground chamber where the Slyph had first awoken. It contained some of her earliest, and in many ways, most savage work. Those creatures stayed there. They were unknowing, unspeaking creatures. Raw rage was all they knew and all they could know—there wasn’t more than animal intelligence in any of them. Grellnot would be an interesting addition, and if it had had anything to do with the loss of Oakheart…
The Slyph vanished, leaving behind a ruined fire- and lava-scarred landscape, centered on a burned-out charcoal husk of a huge oak tree.
King Lachnin took one measured glance at him, grimly nodding. They took off at a hurried gallop, no one saying a word.
Cendan kept glancing behind him, convinced that any second, the Slyph would appear—but no sign of her was seen. Finally, Cendan felt some of the tension leaving him. They must have been safe by now. The elves, however, did not seem to share his viewpoint. Each of their faces revealed a tension he didn’t share, and King Lachnin looked even more humorless than normal.
“We have to be safe by now, right? Whatever that was, she hasn’t seemed to chase us down,” Cendan said, hoping to find some answers. “What was that, anyway?”
King Lachnin shook his head. “Cendan Key, the Slyph has no need to chase anyone. She could appear in front of us right now, no warning, no questions, and destroy every one of my people with a thought. As to what that was… I can only guess. Something has made her very angry. Very. Were you successful? Did you find Oakheart? Have we fulfilled that part of the bargain?”
Lachnin was right, of course—here in the Echo World, the Slyph could literally do anything. For a second, Cendan realized just how powerful this creature was, and what he and the other Bridgefinders were up against.
“The bargain, Cendan Key. One part remains—you using our Bridge to return to your world. Then, you must find a way to fulfill your half,” King Lachnin yelled as they rode. “You will do so, correct?”
“Yes… I said I would.” Cendan was confused. Why was the king so eager on this?
The ground rolled on under the hooves of the Halim, and still, they rode hard. Earth horses would have collapsed by now, but still the Halim rode on, faster and faster each minute. By the time they reached the border of the elven lands, however, even the Halim had begun to tire. Only there did they stop for a moment to water the Halim and feed them. Cendan could see the Halim were tired—the beasts took deep breaths and drank deeply.
“We are not totally safe here, Cendan Key, but the Halim needed the rest. We must move on soon, however. Only once you are through the Bridge will we be safe.”
The Elven King stroked the mane of the Halim that he had ridden. “Halim are to your human horses as we elves are to humans. We have so few now, but with your help, we will have more.”
“What do you mean?” Cendan asked. “How would you getting to my world help the Halim?”
“Halim are all male, Cendan Key. They breed only with human female horses—mares you call them? They breed true, but without a mare, the numbers shrink. They are long-lived, to be sure, but time still claims them, one by one.” King Lachnin paused. “This one is over seventeen hundreds of your years old. He has been mine all that time.”
Cendan pondered this. Was that why Oakheart had warned about the elves? The fact that the Elves would be taking female horses from his world was a disturbing one, but compared to the utter destruction of his world, it seemed a small price to pay. Once he was back in his world, he would decipher the books, repair the EVA. Then, he would find a way to help the elves. Still, something nagged him about the bargain, something he was wasn’t seeing.
King Lachnin remounted his Halim, and without a word, so did the others. They all took off again, but not quite at the same frenzied pace as before. The sky had lost its red hue, though glancing back, Cendan could still see the red sky and what appeared to be smoke rising in the distance. Smoke? What had happened at Oakhearts tree?
Finally, they pulled into the village and approached the mound in a hurry. “Quickly, Cendan Key. Three times around the mound,” King Lachnin ordered him. “Quickly.”
Cendan began to walk around the mound, feeling a slight prickle of goosebumps on his skin as he did so. The feeling only grew as he completed his first circuit. By the end of the second circuit it was near electric, and the elves had gathered to watch him do so. He scanned the faces—all proud, but almost eager now. All those proud warrior faces. All male faces.
Cendan almost stumbled. Awareness washed over him, a cold awareness. That’s what Oakheart had meant. The elves were all male. Every single one. What had King Lachnin said about the Halim? They were to horses as elves were to humans. The Halim needed horses to breed, and the elves... The elves needed human women… Oh god, what had he agreed to?
He was almost done with the final lap. The air seemed thicker now and moving forward was harder and harder. Behind the elves, around a corner, he saw one of the hooded figures, and he knew. He could somehow see through the hood. It was a human female, a woman. Her face, though… it was slack, and unaware. A trance? What had these creatures done to her?
His bargain—he had agreed to this! A sickening feeling grew in his stomach. All the signs had been there, but he had been too wrapped up to see them. The elves had seemed to be the answer to all his needs. But yet, even here, the madness of the Slyph had caused things to be distorted, wrong.
He took his last step. Everything outside the mound was frozen now, locked in place. There, on the top of the mound, was the Bridge. It was still surrounded by circuitry, almost out of place here, but a welcome sight nonetheless.
Cendan took a breath. He had to find a way out of this pact he had made, but first, home. He squeezed the key in his fist and launched himself at the Bridge. In his mind, he envisioned his house, his bedroom. He wanted home.
The now familiar feeling of acceleration hit him, a tearing, and wrenching feeling. He saw the shapes and faces of the elves thin and vanish around him.
Home, Cendan thought. Home! With a rush he fell, hard. He raised his head. He was in his bedroom, in his house. He had made it.
Cendan couldn’t quite believe it. How long had he been gone? Everything gave the appearance of normal, at least how he remembered it being the last time he had been here. His house. Just thinking that felt odd. So much had changed… he didn’t even remember what it had been before. He flicked a power switch, and the light came on. If the power was still on, he hadn’t been gone that long.
Going down the stairs, there didn’t seem to be a buildup of dust, either, so that was another good sign that things weren’t too far out of whack. Finally, he entered his office, noting that his work answering machine had thirty-four messages on it. He stared at it for a minute and realized that he had no interest in listening to even one of those messages. He had truly changed after all. Somehow the thought of going back to that old life left him cold and empty.
He flicked on his laptop and finally saw the date and time. He read it once and then read it again. Two hours. All of that. Just two hours. He’d ridden elf horses, gone mano y mano with Grellnot, escaped from it, ridden Halim again, and escaped the Echo World, all in just two hours? A soul-crushing despair filled him for a second at the thought of the elves. He had made a bargain, a pact—he wasn’t sure what he was going to do about it.
He should have seen it. He should have helped those women, something. Those damn elves all that time… Cendan shuddered. He’d actually liked King Lachnin. He didn’t fully understand him, but he had gotten to know him a little. And then... that bargain. Disgust filled him once more.
He would have to deal with the elven problem, but for now, getting back to the Bridgefinders was more important. He had the knowledge now. Using what Oakheart had placed in the focus, plus the books in the Maker wing, he could fix the EVA. And he needed to move fast. If the Slyph found out he had been there, he wasn’t sure what she would do, but none of it was good. And the fact that he was in his house, and not the somewhat-protected area of the lair, meant that he was a target. A large target.
Maybe he should have thought about the other Bridgefinders first. Go t
here, instead of here. He guessed it was mostly because he still didn’t feel like that place was home. This was. But yet, it did feel less like that now. He had changed—this place had changed.
He quickly took a shower and put on something clean. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten clean. And while he hadn’t gotten dirty in the Echo World, per se, still… he wanted to wash off the overall feeling of slime he got thinking about how he had been tricked and used. He knew, too, that he needed to come up with some sort of explanation for the others.
Cendan found himself in his car for the first time since that first night with his focus in his pocket and work on his mind. While he drove, he thought of how to talk to the others. Marcus would of course be angry—furious, even. Jasmine would be hurt, and Sal would be… Well, who knew what Sal would be? He still needed to get Sal off by himself to talk about the powers that the Bridgefinders could use. Oakheart had confirmed it for him—Bridgefinders used magic.
Truthfully, Cendan hoped that somewhere in all those journals, there would be more about the powers and abilities of the Bridgefinders. Marcus and Jasmine would have to accept the use of magic eventually, but if he and Sal could get it down first, then maybe it would be easier for the others to accept it. Jasmine would be easier to sway than Marcus though. Cendan winced at the idea of dealing with that subject again.
Cendan finally arrived at the Red Orchid and gathered his thoughts. Be honest and blunt. No talking around the subject, and no trying to hide the truth. There were going to be a lot of questions, and possibly accusations. It had been worth it though. He had the knowledge of all the old Bridgefinders and Makers. It had to have been worth it.
Going around back, he descended the stair, and took one last breath. He held up his focus and watched the door open to the now familiar long hallway. The translation was quick though it still made his stomach lurch a bit. He needed to find the others and then get to work. He walked through the map room first and noted no active Bridges on it. So they weren’t out on a run, at least, not right now. The kitchen was empty as well though there was evidence in the sink that people had been here recently.