Land Keep

by J. Scott Savage

  “Hey, what’s that?” Marcus asked, looking up. They were nearly to the top of the silver ramps. He pointed at something that, until now, had been hidden by branches. It looked like a huge black, upside-down pyramid. Between the tip of the pyramid and the top of the ramps was a pair of linked circles—one vertical, the other horizontal, intersecting at ninety degree angles with each other like the outside of a large gyroscope. A white platform filled the horizontal circle.

  “A door,” Kyja said as they came to a stop in front of the platform.

  “A door to nowhere,” Marcus said. He limped onto the platform and looked at the simple silver door set in the exact middle. Above it was the pyramid. Below it was the library tree. But the door itself just stood there, leading nowhere. He went to the other side, grimacing at the pain in his hip. The back of the door—or was it the front?—was painted black. Other than that, it looked exactly the same as the other side.

  “This is the door of eternity?” he asked.

  The cloud did not respond.

  “How does it work?” Kyja asked.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Right,” Marcus said. “That information is inaccessible.” He put a hand on the doorknob. It didn’t feel especially warm or cold, just like a plain, old doorknob.

  “Wait,” Kyja said, grabbing his shoulder, “let’s think about this for a minute.”

  “What’s there to think about?” Marcus asked. His head was beginning to pound. “I don’t know how the land elementals managed to leave through this, but I’m willing to give it a try to find them.”

  “What if it’s a trap?” she said. “Let me go first.”

  “Why you?” Riph Raph said. “This was his idea. Let him go.”

  “Why would they trap the door?” Marcus asked. “Besides, if something happens, I’d rather have it happen to me.”

  “But I’m immune to magic.” Kyja took his hand and stepped up to the door. “Hang on to me in case I get sucked in or something.”

  “Fine. But I think this is a complete waste of time. It’s just another dead end,” he said, looking back at the knowledge illuminator. Still, he gripped Kyja’s hand tightly as she turned the knob. Carefully she pulled the door open and looked through. All they saw was the other side of the platform.

  “See?” Marcus said. “Nothing.”

  “Maybe you have to actually enter it,” Kyja said. An inch at a time, she pushed her hand into the doorway. Nothing happened. She walked completely through. Nothing.

  “Great joke,” Marcus said to the cloud. “Where’s the real door of eternity?”

  “These are the doors of eternity,” the cloud said.

  “Let’s try it from the other side.” Kyja closed the door and walked to the black side. Taking Marcus’s hand once more, she cracked the door open—an inch and then two. She walked completely through again.

  “Let me try,” Marcus said. “Maybe it’s not working for you because it’s magic.” They changed hands, and he took hold of the knob. He’d joked around when Kyja was trying it, but as he gripped the metal knob, his heart began to pound. What if he opened the door and some huge monster leaped out at him? What if it was a room filled with harbingers?

  “Are you okay?” Kyja asked.

  “Yeah.” He licked his lips, took a deep breath, and jerked the door open with one quick lunge. Through the door he saw . . . the other side of the platform. “I think your door is busted,” he said to the knowledge illuminator. He opened the door and closed it. First from one side and then the other. He tried knocking. He tried magic words. Every time he opened the door, all he saw was the other side.

  “Are you sure you don’t know how this works?” Kyja asked.

  “I’m sorry,” the knowledge illuminator said. “I do not have access to that information.”

  “Well, who does?” Kyja asked, stomping her foot. “Isn’t there anyone who has more information than you do in Land Keep?”

  The knowledge illuminator flashed once. “The Augur Well,” answered the tinkling voice. “The third exit.”

  Chapter 25

  The Augur Well

  Have you found anything useful about the well?” Marcus asked, resting on the floor of another branch.

  Kyja paged through the thin, gold book the knowledge illuminator had lain before them. “There’s not a lot of information,” she said. All she’d been able to glean from the sparse pages was that the Augur Well was some sort of oracle or prophet.

  “It says here that land elemental acolytes went on a quest to seek the Augur Well as part of becoming full-fledged elementals. But there’s nothing about what the quest was, how the Augur Well helped them once they reached it, or even if humans are allowed to search for it.” If she’d come across this kind of book in the library at Terra ne Staric, she’d probably have assumed the whole thing was a myth. Then again, until she’d met Marcus, she’d assumed the elementals themselves were a myth.

  “You don’t have anything else?” Marcus asked the cloud. “Like maybe maps or journals from the land elementals who found the well?”

  “This is the only volume concerning the Augur Well,” the knowledge illuminator said.

  “You really haven’t given us much information on the land elementals,” he said. “Just things they’ve done or places they’ve been. Do you have any pictures of what they look like?”

  “I’m sorry. I do not have access to that information.”

  Marcus rubbed the back of his neck and groaned. “You know, you really don’t have to go through that whole, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have access’ routine every time you don’t have an answer. You can just say, ‘No.’”

  “What about the other elementals?” Kyja asked. “Fire and air especially. Do you have anything here about them? It would be nice to know once we get out of here.”

  The knowledge illuminator flashed. “No.”

  “Looks like we search for the Augur Well.” Marcus pulled himself to his feet and leaned against the pedestal. Kyja noticed that, more and more, he was leaning or sitting every chance he got—as if standing was too painful, or too tiring, or both.

  “Okay,” Kyja said to the illuminator. “Take us to the exit that leads to the Augur Well.”

  As they glided down the spiral ramp, Kyja tried to think of how to bring up something she knew wouldn’t go over well with Marcus. Deciding there was no easy way to do it, she swallowed and said, “I don’t think both of us can go looking for the Augur Well.

  “Huh?” Marcus frowned. Apparently the thought hadn’t occurred to him. That would make this even more difficult.

  “The book said that reaching the Augur Well was some sort of test for acolytes to pass before they could become real elementals. It doesn’t sound like something they’d let two people work on together.”

  Marcus nodded slowly. “Okay, good point. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll search for the well while you and Riph Raph return to the swamp, since it’s safe for you two to go back through the tunnels. If I’m not back in two days, go on without me. By now, the Keepers probably think we’ve both been captured by the harbingers, so you should have a pretty good chance of sneaking into the city.”

  Kyja bit her lip. “I don’t think you should be the one to go.”

  “What?” Marcus exploded. “This is my problem. I’m the one who’s stuck here. Of course I should be the one to go.”

  “This isn’t just about you. If anything happens to either of us, it’ll affect both of our worlds. We want to save both Earth and Farworld from the Dark Circle, but we can’t save either if we don’t open the drift. And that means finding a land elemental to help us.” Kyja knew how much the rest of what she had to say would hurt Marcus, but there was no way around it. “I think I have the best chance of doing this.”

  Marcus glared at her, his jaws clenched. “Why? Because I’m crippled?”

  “It’s not just that,” Kyja said, unable to meet his eyes. “You’re sick. Don’t you think I’ve noticed how fl
ushed you are? How even your good leg starts to tremble after you’ve been standing for very long? Who knows how long this quest might take or what it involves. What if you have to climb a mountain or something?”

  When Marcus refused to answer, she wondered if she’d gone too far. Marcus was tough. Tougher than she was, when it came down to it, and she considered herself strong. But he’d been away from Earth for too long. Whatever the snifflers had done to him seemed to have sped up his deterioration here in Farworld.

  She knew how awful it felt to have people judge you for something you couldn’t do through no fault of your own. But the truth was, in his current condition, Marcus wasn’t up to something like this.

  “What if the test requires magic?” he said at last. There was something in his voice Kyja didn’t recognize. Something she didn’t like. She tried to see what he was thinking, but he wouldn’t look at her.

  “Then I’ll just have to find some way around it. I’ve spent my whole life doing that, so it’s not like it’ll be a new experience.”

  She expected Marcus to put up more of a fight. When he simply dropped his chin and said, “Take Riph Raph with you. Maybe animals don’t count,” she worried even more. She needed to find the Augur Well as quickly as she could then get Marcus back to Earth.

  “We are here,” the knowledge illuminator said.

  So far, nothing in Land Keep had been what she’d expected. But this might have been the biggest shock of all. The entrance to the Augur Well was a simple wooden door. Splintered and rough-looking with a worn leather pull, it could have been the door to a modest cottage or even the side entrance to a barn. The only unusual things at all were the clumsily inscribed images of a mouth and an ear that looked like they might have been carved into the door many years earlier by someone without much talent, maybe a child.

  Kyja turned to the glowing cloud, confused. “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Open the door,” the tinkling voice answered with what sounded almost like amusement.

  “That’s all?”

  “That’s all.”

  Kyja studied Marcus, hoping he was going to be all right. “Maybe Riph Raph should stay with you.”

  Marcus and the skyte looked at each other and both shook their heads. “He’d just get in my way,” Marcus said. “I’ll read up on Trill Stones or something. Maybe by the time you get back, I’ll be able to beat you.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it.” Kyja leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. For a moment he resisted her. But finally she felt him hug her back, and a sense of warm relief filled her chest.

  “Be safe,” he said.

  “I will.” She turned to Riph Raph. “Hang on tight to my shoulder,” she told him as she faced the door. Then to the illuminator, “Just pull?”

  The knowledge illuminator flashed. “Just pull.”

  Taking the leather strap in her hand, she glanced back at Marcus, wishing there were something more she could say. She finally settled on, “Wish me luck.”

  “Good luck,” Marcus said.

  Riph Raph tightened his claws into the cloth of her robe. “Why couldn’t I have been rescued by a girl who plays with dolls?”

  Kyja pulled on the door, and everything around her disappeared.

  Chapter 26

  Mr. Z

  Kyja found herself standing in a dusty study filled with piles and piles of books. Shelves of them lined every wall of the small room. They were not the gold, leaf-shaped books from Land Keep, but tattered tomes with missing covers and broken spines that looked as though they had been literally read to pieces. The only visible piece of furniture was a large, wooden desk buried beneath more leather-bound stacks.

  “Where are we?” asked a voice from behind her.

  “Marcus?” She spun around and inadvertently knocked over a tall pile. Books clattered everywhere, including onto Marcus, who was sitting on the floor, his staff gripped in one hand.

  “Watch out,” he said, fending off several of the larger volumes with one arm.

  “How did you get here?” Kyja tried to pull books off of him, while at the same time not upsetting any of the other tottering collections.

  “Not sure,” he said, pushing himself to his feet. “One minute I was watching you open the door, and the next minute I was here. Where’s Riph Raph?”

  Kyja realized she couldn’t feel the skyte’s talons on her shoulder. Had he been left behind?

  “Quiet, you two,” said a squeaky voice. “Things are about to begin.”

  Two large piles of books slid aside on the desk, and Kyja found herself looking at a tiny man with a blob of a nose and enormous red ears. The man was wearing a pair of gold-framed glasses too big for his face, a long, black coat, and a battered felt hat that looked dangerously close to falling off his head. He perched at the top of a tower of books that wobbled every time he moved.

  As she watched, the man reached into the pocket of his purple vest and pulled out a horn no bigger than his pinkie. He put it to his lips and blew a surprisingly loud trumpet.

  “Isn’t this exciting?” the man said, putting the horn back into his vest and clapping his hands. “Ullr the challenger is a fine specimen, fleet and strong. But the champion, V‡li, is a veteran of many battles, wily and trickilicious.” Resting his chin in his hands, he set his elbows on the desk and stared at its wooden surface.

  Marcus looked to Kyja, but she had no more idea than he did what was going on. Stepping carefully around the books, she and Marcus approached the desk. “What are you talking about?” she asked timidly.

  “Hmm?” the man replied without looking up. “Sport, of course. Man against man. Beast against beast. Strength versus speed. Mind over muscle.”

  Marcus leaned across the desk to see two brown shapes no bigger than walnuts. “Are those snails?”

  “Yes, yes.” the man chirped. “Look at them go!”

  Kyja glanced from one snail to the other. “They don’t seem to be moving.”

  “That’s what they want you to think,” the little man said, tapping the side of his head and nearly knocking off his hat. “They’re sizing each other up, probing for weaknesses. It’s a thinking man’s sport.”

  “And what sport would that be?” Marcus asked. As far as Kyja could see, the snails hadn’t moved at all. In fact, she suspected at least one of them might be dead.

  “Snail jousting, of course!” the man snapped. “The sport of kings and noblemen.”

  “Seriously?” Marcus leaned across the desk until the tip of his nose was almost touching the snails. “I don’t see any lances.”

  “Lances?” the man leaned backward so abruptly his pile of books swayed like a tall tree in a high wind. He rubbed his glasses furiously with the sleeve of his coat and glared at Marcus as though he were crazy. “Do you have any idea what a lance would do to these beautiful shells? What do you take me for, a barbarian?”

  “I thought if they were jousting . . .”

  “Lances.” The man said, giving Marcus a stern shake of his head before returning to his snails.

  “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” Kyja said. “Could you tell us who you are? I’m not sure we’re in the right place.”

  “Who am I?” the man said, as though asking himself. “When most people ask who you are, they really want to know what you are. Are you famous? Are you powerful? Are you wealthy? Are you someone who can help them get what they want, do you stand in their way, or can you be dismissed out of hand?”

  He looked left and right from one snail to the other as though watching an especially exciting tennis match. “Titles are quite useful that way, aren’t they? How about Commander of the Fleet? No, too forceful. Master of All Things Inconsequential and General in Nature? Too stuffy. Merciful and Benevolent Ruler? Too self-serving. High Executioner? No.” He shivered. “That won’t do. How about Her Majesty the Queen? I’ve always favored that one.”

  Marcus twirled a finger beside his head, but Kyja gave him a quick elbow
in the ribs.

  “Actually, I was just wondering what to call you,” she said. “I’m Kyja, and this is Marcus.”

  “You want a name? How unusual.” The man scratched a thatch of sparse, gray hair. This time, he actually did knock off his hat. But as it rolled from his head, he caught it with the tip of his left shoe and kicked it into the air, landing the hat right where it had been. “How about Zithspithesbazith? It’s actually quite fun to say and allows you to spit freely on whomever you say it to.”

  “I don’t think I could pronounce that,” Kyja said, unable to stifle a giggle.

  “No? Why don’t we stick with Z then? It has a certain letter-like quality to it.”

  “All right then, Mr. Z. We’re looking for the Augur Well. I don’t know if you could help us, but we opened a door and—”

  “The Augur Well?” the man said. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” He began searching his pockets. First his coat. Then his vest. Then his baggy pants. “I know I’ve got it here someplace.”

  After searching all his pockets twice, he looked up and gave a loud harrumph. “What was I thinking?” He took his hat off his head, fished around for what seemed like an exceptionally long time, and finally pulled out a large, old fashioned-looking brass key.

  “Here you are,” he said, handing the key to Kyja. “Down the hall to your left. Third door on the right. But you know that, of course.” With that, he went back to watching snails.

  “That’s it?” Marcus asked. “We just take the key and open the door?”

  “That’s right,” the man said, waving them away. “I apologize for the inconvenience. It’s been quite some time since I saw a land elemental here.”

  “Um.” Kyja glanced down at the key. Marcus shook his head vigorously and put his finger to his lips. But she spoke anyway. “We’re not land elementals.”

  “What?” The man again very nearly tumbled from his perch. “Not land elementals, you say? Very odd.” He craned his neck to look at the two of them. He put the large gold spectacles into his coat pocket and replaced them with a much smaller silver pair. He squinted at Marcus and Kyja for a moment before mumbling, “No.”