Evandrel snorted. “Mythical? Your people are very uninformed.”
Kaden laughed again. “Yeah, I suppose we are. So tell me a little more about yourself, Evan.”
“Is this an attempt to circumvent our deal and again lead the subject off into trivial matters, human? If we are speaking, you should be teaching me how you travel. Correct?” Evandrel slipped easily through a patch of briars, leaving Kaden to rip his way through as thorns caught at his hair and new clothes.
Evandrel waited for him on the other side, still expecting answers to his questions. Kaden almost ran into the Keitane man as he stumbled out of the brush in the darkness. Kaden yelped at the dark shadow looming before him and his hands went up in instinctive defense.
The shadow leaned in. “Your silence on the matter does not encourage me, human. Do you intend to teach me your magic or not?”
Kaden reached out in his mind for his tether. I thought we’d made a bit of progress. So quick to anger, this elf. “Easy now, my tall friend. I’ll tell you all I know. Three days or more should be plenty since I don’t know much. I just figured we might as well get to know each other, and I’d like to know more about you and the other Sidra.”
Evandrel turned, weaving in and out of trees at a speed that Kaden had a hard time matching in the dim light that filtered through the trees. “We are not friends, human. Your kind has been our enemy for generations.”
Kaden smiled. “Yeah, I tend to throw around the friend word too easily. It’s good to be hopeful. But I’m not my kind—I mean the humans you know have no tie to me.”
Kaden jumped as the elf appeared next to him. He was sure Evandrel had just passed behind a tree two yards up.
The Keitane cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Explain.”
“This is as good a place to start as any. This may be difficult. Despite speaking English very well, you don’t seem to know all the words I use.”
Evandrel shook his head. “I know every word in English, in every dialect. I am a Light Bringer. We are required to know all your languages, which became much easier when your king made one universal tongue.” Evandrel paused and shook his head. “I admit you do use words that are unfamiliar at times. I believe you invent these words in an attempt to fool me.”
“I’m not making up words, and I’m not trying to fool anyone. I’m just pretty sure you haven’t been exposed to my dialect before. What do you know of planets and stars? Oh no!” Kaden tripped over a root and flew forward. Evandrel caught him easily and set him back on his feet. Kaden marveled at how gentle the creature had been at speeds that Kaden couldn’t follow.
The elf contemplated Kaden in the silent darkness. He frowned and sighed. “Sit. It is dark and you are unable to travel as swiftly as we need. We will wait until morning when I hope your eyes and reflexes may improve.” The Keitane folded down into a sitting position with a grace that Kaden envied. “This will also give us a chance to talk more freely.”
“Sounds good to me. Thanks, Evan.” Kaden plopped himself to the soft forest floor, layered with years of fallen leaves smelling of earth, moisture, and the pleasant smell of slow, natural decay. “This would be easier if I could see. Don’t suppose you have flint and steel in a pocket or some such?”
Evandrel shook his head. Kaden could barely make out the movement.
“Fire is the way of my brother tribe, the Edane. We do not use it often. I am a Light Bringer though.” He slipped a hand into his tunic and removed a glass ball that glinted in the filtered light from the silver moons. “I created this just days ago as practice for my trials.” He tapped it three times. The glass hummed and a warm light blossomed in the depth. The light grew until it lit Evandrel’s and Kaden’s features along with a large part of the forest around them.
Kaden sat, mouth open, transfixed by the sudden appearance of light. The glass ball floated a few inches above the ground and bobbed as a breeze stirred the leaves above them. He looked up at the Keitane with new wonder. Kaden had never seen anything like it. “You made that? You mean, you really can do magic?”
“You did not believe me? Yet your magic is powerful. You continue to baffle me, human.”
“Magic isn’t possible…anywhere. I’ve never seen anyone make something like that.”
“Not a surprise. Humans have long since eradicated the gift from their ranks.”
“No, you don’t understand. How to explain? Where were we before any of this? Planets and stars?”
Evandrel glanced skyward, eyes tracing the moons’ placement and the slash of red nebula even through the ceiling of leaves. “The Light Bringers of the Keitane have long followed the movement of the planets and stars. We have sent our minds out to gather information, to discover the laws of all things. We know more than any human about how the heavens work.”
“Okay. Good, I guess, though you could be a little less condescending.”
Evandrel grinned, white teeth flashing in the magical light, and spread his hands in a display of innocence.
“Fine, be that way.”
“I intend to.”
“Anyway…I’m gonna have to lean on all the nerdy tv shows I’ve ever seen. Do you or the humans here use the word ‘universe’?”
“Nerdy, teevee, universe? I am once again unfamiliar with your words.”
“Maybe I’ll explain tv later. The universe is what we call all that the heavens contain. Moons, planets, stars, nebulous superheated gasses, empty space, everything, running on forever in all directions. All energy and all matter.”
Evandrel looked at Kaden with some semblance of shock. “Apparently, your people are not as uninformed as I previously stated. I have never heard of a human speak of the universe with such insight.” He nodded with appreciation and then stared down at the glass ball. “Your language is coarse, but I am glad you have a word for Lithilial, for all things.”
Kaden smiled. “Happy to be different from these humans you dislike so much. What about other universes?”
The elf’s head shot up and he narrowed his eyes. “We have theorized that there are many Lithilial spaces, universes, but this is not something that humans know. They barely understand the movements of the moons and shroud everything in superstitions. They call our dual moons twins, not understanding that they only appear to be the same size. The green one is bigger, but seems the same size because—”
“Because it is farther away.” Kaden finished for him.
“Where have you learned these things?”
“From another universe.” Kaden grinned at the shock in Evandrel’s face and spread his hands wide in an imitation of the elf’s pose moments before. Who knew that space elves had their own form of theoretical physics? Not what I expected from a race of tree dwellers that don’t wear shoes.
The Keitane man looked Kaden over several times as though looking for something. Evandrel then closed his eyes and chanted to himself in a language Kaden didn’t understand.
Kaden felt a tickle of movement across his skin, raising goose bumps. “What was that?”
Evandrel opened his eyes. “Magic.” The Keitane’s almond eyes glinted gold in the light. “You look human, feel human. Is this a disguise? It does not feel like a disguise.”
Kaden shook his head. “I’ve found that most universes have similar lifeforms. I’ve glimpsed hundreds, but only visited a few.”
“This cannot be the truth.” Evandrel looked at Kaden with renewed suspicion.
Kaden shrugged. “Believe it or not. It’s the truth. You say you felt me arrive. You saw me travel. You see my tether back to my universe. How else are you going to explain it?”
Kaden wasn’t sure if he should be sharing everything with this creature, but he needed Evandrel’s help and he also hungered to share his secrets after being unable to for so long. He’s my only hope of finding Aren. Might as well give him the full show.
Evandrel followed the tether off into nothingness once more. Everything he understood about the universe s
aid it was possible, but to have a being from beyond this universe sitting across from him bent reason. A pitiful and prideful human child at that. How am I going to explain this to the Elders? It cannot be true.
Kaden sat across from him bathed in the glimmering light of the globe. This could be a test. The Prophet knows it would be hard for me to trust a human. “Let us say I believe you for now.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Evandrel’s race kept emotions deep while human emotions ran much closer to the surface. Evandrel easily saw the pride, fear, and relief run across Kaden’s face. “You have never shared this information before.” Evandrel cut off Kaden’s reply. “It is not a question. I can see that it is so. Why?”
“Not too many people believe what they can’t see, Evan. You are a rare find in any world. No one has ever seen my…uh…magic, except Aren.” Kaden’s face fell as he mentioned the girl, fear, shame, and sorrow evident in the human’s face and the way his shoulders slumped.
Evandrel felt compelled to say something and hated himself for the twinge of pity that ran through his heart. “We had to leave the girl behind. I would rather not have. She is interesting, and I would have liked to know more about her.”
“Me too. I just met her a couple days ago. Now I’ve lost her on some strange planet to Dwarves.”
“Dwaros. She is still safe for now. Let us hope the Dwaros will remain kind to her even though they have as much reason to love humans as I.”
“Well, let’s hope she’s as convincing as me…minus the strangling.”
Evandrel actually allowed himself to laugh at the comment. “Yes, we can hope. She has a much more pleasant appearance than yourself.” He sneered at the boy. “That may help.”
Kaden smiled. “I hope we find her soon. I…I don’t know what to do without her.”
“I thought you said you met her just a few days ago?” The depth of the boy’s emotional attachment surprised Evandrel. It also made his own thoughts turn to Hasla.
“Yeah, but, like you said, she’s interesting. She’s the first to see my magic and she’s the first to come along for the ride and that she did completely by herself. She’s in danger and here I sit, relatively safe with my only somewhat murderous elf friend while she slips further into more danger.”
Evandrel decided to ignore the friend comment this time, but flared his nostrils at the word. “Yes, but you have no choice. I do not deceive you of the peril to your life that would come from following the girl. You should not dwell on her or her unknown situation until we have more of a plan. The Elders will have options. Now, tell me more of these worm burrows.”
“Wormholes. They’re connections between two points in spacetime. That’s the nerdy answer I promised. I can pull them up in my mind and choose which one to follow.”
As he spoke, an amber oval of light enveloped the boy. Evandrel could see this halo of light spilling out into the forest. The light also reached beyond physicality, warming the Keitane’s mind as he looked upon it. He could see Kaden’s tether connected to the side of the yellow sphere, spiraling off into the dark forest.
Evandrel sat up straight and leaned closer to stare at the glowing shell. The golden light swirled with eddies of power. The sight brought back religious trainings from his youth. No! This cannot be. The Cloak of the Prophet? On a human?
Awe and revulsion rocked back and forth within Evandrel’s heart, each one fighting for dominance. He made the sign of the First Tree, a reflexive habit.
Kaden noticed the movement. “You can see it, can’t you? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m a freaking zoo lately. First Aren and then you after months of no one seeing a thing.” Kaden shrugged. “You’ll only see the one wormhole. I don’t normally have more while I’m away from Earth. At home you would see images all along the inside of my Egg.”
Evandrel shook the iconic images of his religion from his mind and frowned. “Earth? Egg? I do not understand.”
“Oh…Earth is the name of my planet back in my universe. I call this my Egg.” Kaden waved around the glowing dome. “Seriously, look at it. It screams Egg.” The movement of his hands set ripples moving through the field of light and waving patterns along his skin and the clothing Evandrel had provided.
Evandrel shivered. “Ah, I will call it your Egg as well though it reminds me of something we call a cloak. How did you learn this magic?”
“This is where you’re gonna be disappointed, Evan buddy. I fell off a bridge and landed on my head. From then on I could do this.”
Evandrel was disappointed, but he hid it. He had also noticed the shame and sorrow that crossed the boy’s face. “You lost someone too.”
Kaden’s head snapped up. “Yes, my mother. She fell with me and my Egg saved me and not her.”
“You blame yourself. Once again, that is not a question. I can see it plainly on your face. Since your mother appears to not be linked in any way to the atrocities the humans committed in my world, I will give condolences for your loss.”
Kaden sniffed. “Thanks. Most people tell me not to blame myself.”
Evandrel shrugged. “The world, or worlds in this case, are hard. People die. We assign blame. I blame many for the deaths that have come before. How could I deny you the right to place blame, justly or unjustly, on your own shoulders?”
Kaden frowned with half his mouth and looked down. “Makes sense.”
“Hmmm. So after this fall that claimed your mother’s life, the power just came upon you? Like a gift from the gods.”
“Yep, pretty much. Sorry. I know you hoped to learn much more.” The boy paused, thinking. “But if you can see it, you might be able to learn more, maybe even copy it. Aren was able to do stuff with my Egg that I can’t. She came along uninvited and she pulled things through, like clothes and the desk. She even pulled my tether through. I had to dig through the wormholes to find my way home.”
“Yes, I did not see the first trip, but felt it. Your return trip did feel different, lesser somehow.”
Kaden shut down his Egg.
Evandrel felt blinded as the golden light vanished, leaving his mind and the forest darkened. “You are correct though. A habit I find most disturbing in a human. I may be able to learn more. You will have to let me evaluate your…Egg…in more detail later.”
Kaden nodded. “I’m okay with that. You said you noticed the differences when I came back. Any idea what was different? I like the idea of having clothes when I first arrive on an alien world.”
Evandrel shrugged. “I cannot be certain without more study of the actual process. It may have been the girl pulling it through, or her influence made you let go of your tie to your planet. We could attempt to sever your tether. It should be possible.” Evandrel reached out with his mind and whispered a few words of power as he touched upon the link back to the human’s home. “That was the main difference and may bring the small part of you that you leave behind through, along with your clothes.”
“What? A part of me?”
Evandrel nodded in the light of his small glowing orb that felt dim and frail after the power of the boy’s Egg. “You do not know? Interesting. You are obviously incomplete. You leave a piece of your soul behind, like one would leave a placeholder in a book.”
“Huh, that actually makes sense. I can still feel the hospital bed in the back of my mind and I feel foggy, like I’m half asleep. Now that I think about it, every trip I’ve taken has been dreamlike, except when I came with Aren. Then I was wide awake.”
“Yes, that is what I sense. It does seem foolish and perilous to remain unwhole. I do think I could help you pull that piece of yourself through.” Evandrel reached out, wrapped his will around the tether that remained even when the Egg was closed, and tugged gently.
Kaden jumped and wrapped his arms around his chest. “Ouch!”
“Sorry, I was merely testing the theory, not following through.”
“Um, that was weird. I don’t think I liked it.”
�
��What did you feel?”
Kaden let his arms fall to his side. “I don’t know if I can describe it. It was like something flowed into me, fast. It hurt a little too.”
Evandrel nodded. “As I suspected. I believe I could pull the entire thing through if you wish it so.”
Kaden shook his head. “Thanks, but no thanks. I feel more…real I guess, but it really did hurt. A lot! I’m only wearing a hospital gown there anyway, not worth it just to get my clothes back. That, and it might leave part of me here and part on Earth, which sounds unpleasant.”
“I do believe it would be most unpleasant. We will wait then. I cannot go against your will in any case. Get some rest, human. Tomorrow we must make haste to my homeland. I will secure our camp.”
Kaden yawned. “But I wanted to ask about your magic.”
“There will be time enough for that as we travel. Go to sleep, Kaden.”
Evandrel tapped the globe two times and it dimmed to a faint glow. Evandrel didn’t need much light, but he thought the human could use the reassurance. Kaden curled up on the soft ground. Evandrel pulled a thin soft blanket from a pocket within his tunic and draped it across the child, shaking his head the whole time. Why do I care about this human’s comfort?
In answer, the egg-shaped ball of golden light burst to life around Kaden once more. The boy must have pulled open his Egg to help lull him to sleep. Evandrel made the sign of the First Tree once more and then leaned in to study the cloak for as long as it stayed open. This is going to be an interesting visit home.
Kaden toyed with his tether, his eyes closed. It felt less substantial after Evandrel’s experiment. I could go home. I could go back to the exact moment I left and no one would ever have to know. It would be easy.
His stomach knotted up and his chest tightened as if his intestines had turned into angry snakes that bit into everything around them as they coiled around his heart. He took a deep breath, taking in the soft pine-like scent of the forest. He knew it would mean leaving Aren behind.
The Crystal Bridge (The Lost Shards Book 1) Page 17