Fairy World M.D., Boxed Set Two (4-6.5)

by Tamara Grantham

  “I agree,” Heidel said. “Wild lands or not, ghosts or specters or pools filled with blood, we cannot let that stop us.”

  “Pools of blood?” I asked.

  “Yes, that is what my people say exists there.”

  “I’d not heard that one.”

  “It’s a rumor, Sister,” Kull said.

  “A rumor founded on facts, I’m afraid,” Maveryck said.

  We all turned toward Maveryck.

  “How would you know that?” I asked. “Have you been there?”

  “A very long time ago. Yes, I’ve been there.”

  “How would you know what’s inside the wild lands?” Heidel asked. “No one goes there and survives.”

  “That is not completely true. I did it, and others have done it as well.”

  “The bloodthorn traveled the wild lands,” Kull said, “but he had his immortality protecting him. We won’t have such a luxury.”

  My mom spoke up. “I don’t see how you are to survive such a quest. Pozin, isn’t there another way?”

  “Yes, and it’s through the queen’s catacombs, where she has warded the entrance with her most powerful spells, where she has posted half of her guards, and where she is waiting for them to enter. You may not have seen many guards roaming the city, and there is a reason. She has moved half her regiment to the catacombs.”

  “Still, it sounds less dangerous than the wild lands,” Mom said.

  “No,” Maveryck said. “I can get you through the wild lands. I cannot make the same promise for the queen’s catacombs. Plus, if we do enter through the wild lands, we shall have the element of surprise on our side.”

  “Either way sounds pretty bleak to me,” I admitted, “but it has to be done.”

  I glanced at the baby still cradled in Mom’s arms. Emotion welled within me, and a knot formed in my throat. For a child to be killed because of the color of its magic appalled me, yet I knew Euralysia. I knew her motivations. I’d witnessed her execute the entire goblin race.

  It would not happen again. God help me, I would not let it happen again.

  Chapter 27

  We waited until the cover of night to leave the city. Fog shrouded the desolate streets. I felt as if I walked on an alien planet. It seemed fear lurked in every corner, that it drove the people to stay indoors and forced the once vibrant, musical city into oppression. I didn’t envy the people who lived here.

  Maveryck led the way as Kull, Heidel, and I followed. We took the same passage to leave the city as we had to get in, but I didn’t think it mattered. There were no guards or people anywhere, making me wonder if we’d stumbled upon a graveyard rather than the elven capitol.

  After crossing through the streets, Maveryck led us into the tunnels, and then out beyond the city wall. Dewy grass squished under my leather boots as I followed the others toward the light-rails. The single thread of light cut through the darkness like a beacon, and I breathed a sigh of relief as we finally climbed inside the carriage and away from the city.

  “Lauressa is a different place,” I said as the carriage sped forward, its mechanical whir a soft purr in my ears and its magic making my senses tingle.

  “It hasn’t been the same since the queen took control,” Maveryck answered.

  “Faythander won’t be the same either if she manages to get control of it,” Kull said.

  I stared through the window and watched as the carriage sped away from the city. Lights shone from the top of the castle, making my thoughts turn to Mom and Dad, who’d stayed behind. Worry nagged at me. I didn’t like leaving them behind in that city, where they could be discovered at a moment’s notice, but what other choice did I have? The only thing to be done was to stop the queen, and that thought gave me the strength to keep going forward.

  Kull grabbed my hand and kissed my knuckles.

  “What was that for?” I asked.

  “You looked worried.”

  “Shouldn’t I be?”

  “No.”

  “No? Our world is on the brink of destruction, and I shouldn’t be worried?”

  “Right this moment, there’s nothing you can do about it. So I say no, don’t be worried.”

  I eyed him. He never seemed to worry about anything—well, except maybe one thing—but for the most part, he held it together. It was a talent I envied.

  “Tell me, Maveryck,” Kull said, “what can we expect to find in the wild lands?”

  Heidel had rested her head on Maveryck’s shoulder, but she sat up as he shifted.

  Maveryck’s eyes darkened. “My memories of that place are not ones I care to recall.” He heaved a heavy sigh.

  He’d said he had the ability to recall events with perfect clarity. I was reminded that it would most likely bring him pain to speak of such a memory, but it couldn’t be avoided. We had to know what was in the wild lands.

  “My journey into the wild lands happened when I was much younger, just a boy really, while my elven parents were still alive,” he started. “My elder brother Navarre wanted to take me on an expedition. What I didn’t know was that he was leading me into a trap. Looking back, I am sure he was jealous of me. I was the youngest, adopted, and doted on by our parents. He was the eldest and expected to be the leader, and he hated it. Needless to say, he didn’t like me, and so he led me into the wild lands. Whether he wished to kill me or merely scare me, I cannot say for sure. But he left me there alone.

  “Unlike what most people think, the wild lands aren’t merely a desolate waste. In fact, they’re the opposite. They’re a place of enormous magical energy, so potent that plants and creatures grow mutated. After time, the magic began to wreak havoc on the area’s ecosystems, decimating some, causing others to warp into different species altogether.

  “But the most dangerous aspect of the wild lands is neither the plants nor the animals—it is the magic that gets into your head. It makes you see things, makes you lose your senses, and eventually, makes you lose your mind.

  “I was only able to survive because my family returned for me. Navarre had let it slip what he’d done, and so my parents came and found me. If not for them, I don’t think I would have made it through.”

  “Is there any way around it?” Heidel asked. “Some way to get past the magic?”

  “Yes, I believe so. Since then, I have made it a point to never be in such a situation ever again. Although I have not returned, I have done a fair amount of research and learned that there are trails protected from the magic in that waste, and if one were to find one of the trails and stay on it, it would be possible to navigate through the wild lands and avoid the most potent magic. However, I’ll have to know where we’re going. Magistrate Pozin spoke of a lake, but how are we to know which one?”

  I rummaged in my pack and found the journal. Recalling something I’d seen inside, I placed the leather-bound tome on my lap and opened it carefully. The paper creaked as I flipped to a map near the middle of the diary.

  The picture had been drawn by hand, although its detail and clarity were remarkable. The map had no name, but around the outer edge of the landmass were the words OUTER RIM. And inside were the words ACASER FORMATION. Other points of interest had been given names as well, but I focused on the lines crisscrossing the map.

  “Look at this,” I said to Maveryck and passed the book to him. “Do you think this could be a map of the wild lands?”

  He studied the map several minutes before speaking, turning the pages, then back to the map, then turning it one way or another. “Yes,” he finally said. “I think this most likely could be a map of the wild lands. But it has changed since this map was drawn.”

  “Do you think we can rely on it to get us through?” Kull asked.

  “There is only one way to know for sure,” he answered, then handed the journal back to me.

  I studied the picture, wishing we had more than only this to help us get through the waste.

  A large lake had been drawn near the map’s center. Several other bodies
of water had been drawn as well, but the lake caught my eye, perhaps because the image of a skull, similar to the one I’d seen in Silvestra’s castle, took up the lake’s center.

  “What do you make of this?” I asked.

  “Could it be Tremulac Lake?” Heidel asked.

  “It seems the most likely place. However,” Maveryck said, “not all is as it seems in that place.”

  “Then why would Dracon draw this symbol?” I asked. “Come to think of it, this symbol looks similar to the skull symbol I saw in Silvestra’s castle. It means black magic. Do you think black magic is at work in the wild lands?”

  “No, not that I’m aware of,” Maveryck answered. “It’s possible that the skull means something else—death perhaps, or a warning.”

  “A warning about what?” Heidel asked. “Is there something in that lake we should know about?”

  “Hold on,” I said, staring at the map. A small, five-pointed star was drawn in one of the skull’s eye sockets. “There may be something here. What do you make of this?”

  Maveryck took the book once again and studied the picture. He shook his head. “I don’t know. Perhaps it has no meaning at all.”

  “I doubt it.” I took the book back from him as I contemplated the star’s meaning. The longer I looked at it, the more I thought the star was oddly shaped, with the ends ending not in points, but in curves, like an asterisk.

  My breath caught in my throat. “Theht,” I whispered. “This is the symbol for Theht.” I looked up. “I think I’ve found our lost castle.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m fairly certain that we’ll find something here, whether it’s the castle or not, I think this should be the place we travel to.”

  “But if it’s the symbol for Theht,” Maveryck said, “shouldn’t we avoid it?”

  “Logically speaking, yes. Why Dracon decided to mark this lake with Theht’s symbol must have been for a good reason. But if we want to stop the summoning, then this is where we’ll have to go.”

  Running headlong into dangerous, possibly life-ending situations was becoming a habit of mine. One day, I’d have to consider breaking it.

  “Then it’s settled,” Kull said. “We’ll have to make it to that lake and hopefully find our missing castle. Maveryck, how long will it take to travel through that wasteland?”

  “The lake sits at the center of the area, and if we are able to locate one of the trails, then we should be able to make it there in less than a day, assuming we are not attacked and killed by some sort of mutated beast.”

  “I’ll handle the beasts,” Kull said smugly. “Monsters don’t worry me, it’s what’s at the center of the lake that’s troubling.”

  “You won’t slay the beasts without help,” Heidel said. “Not without Bloodbane, anyway.”

  “Which is why you are coming with me,” Kull said. He sighed as he glanced at the sword he’d placed on the floor of the carriage. “Bloodbane would come in handy right about now.”

  “But Bloodbane is not here,” Heidel said, “which is why you must let me help you.”

  Kull raised an eyebrow. “One would think you are glad my sword is gone.”

  “Glad? No. I am merely making the best of an unfortunate situation.”

  “Or taking advantage of it.”

  “Those are your words, Brother.”

  Kull and Heidel, at it again. Would they ever get tired of their back-and-forth bickering?

  “What will you do with Euric?” Heidel asked.

  Kull shrugged. “Nothing. He’s been imprisoned by the elves. I don’t see that there is anything I can do.”

  “You can demand the elves release him so he may serve his penance in the Wult dungeons.”

  “No need. As long as he is detained, he can do no further damage to me.”

  “Yet,” Maveryck said, “the damage may have already been done.”

  “Why do you say that?” I asked.

  “I heard Euric’s speeches he made at the Wult inn near Dragon Spine Mountain. He was intent on rallying the people against the king. Some of His Majesty’s subjects may see Euric as a sort of martyr.”

  “I disagree,” Kull said. “Once they learn that Euric stole the staff from the keep, they won’t see him as anything more than a traitor.”

  “Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I believe you fail to understand the power of a cult mentality. There were some who claimed Euric to be Odin reborn. And he did nothing to stop that belief. They followed him blindly.”

  “What are you saying?” Kull asked. “If that’s the case, what would you have me do? Execute anyone who professes to follow the man?”

  “No, of course not. His following was too small and insignificant to make a difference. But you must keep an eye on his followers.”

  “This started because you lost Bloodbane,” Heidel said. “It was your symbol of power. Now that it is gone, they have lost their faith in you.”

  “Unfortunately, I see no way to remedy the situation. Short of traveling to the outer isles and forging another sword, I am not sure what to do to restore our people’s trust.”

  Silence filled the carriage once again. I rested my hand atop Kull’s. He seemed like he needed something to lift his spirits. I couldn’t help but feel guilty that I was the one responsible for destroying Bloodbane. The heirloom sword had been the symbol of his power, and it seemed I had become the symbol of his failure.

  He stared out the window, though there was nothing to see but blackness broken up now and again by the lights of an occasional town or village, or a random flock of maywelters or nobbinflies.

  Soft yellow lanterns illuminated Kull’s profile. Although tiny wrinkles lined the edges of his eyes and scars marred his deep bronze skin, I couldn’t help but find him irresistibly attractive. If not for him, I would still be dead inside. He’d saved me more than once, physically and emotionally, and I hadn’t been the only person he’d helped. I knew he cared for his people and worried about them, so to see him being rejected by his own kind made my heart feel heavy. Perhaps stopping the elves from summoning Theht would prove his worth once and for all.

  Spending another night on a carriage wasn’t a habit I wanted to keep up, but since I knew I would need my strength, I gave up rehashing my worries and slept with my cheek resting on Kull’s shoulder, listening to the sound of his breathing and realizing I should probably take his advice and stop worrying.

  Easier said than done.

  I awoke with the whir of the carriage resounding in my ears. When I opened my eyes, I found the sky outside had lightened to a dull, gunmetal gray. Acid churned in my stomach as my thoughts returned to my daily to-do list.

  Travel through the wild lands without getting killed.

  Find an evil castle.

  Steal a lost egg.

  Stop a maniac queen from taking over the world.

  Do it without dying.

  At least I couldn’t complain of being bored.

  I lay with my head on Kull’s shoulder a moment longer, feeling the strength of his deltoid against my face. I gently traced my fingers along his arms, letting the warmth of his skin thaw my chill. But with his nearness, I was reminded of the prophecy.

  Would he really be the person who killed me?

  That thought made me shudder. Somehow, I had to figure out a way to keep Theht from controlling me. I had to rescue Fan’twar—I wasn’t sure if he could remove Theht’s presence from my mind, but he could at least point me in the right direction.

  As the sky lightened outside, I began to make out the shapes of mountains against the gray horizon. But before we reached the peaks, the carriage slowed. The others woke as we pulled to a stop.

  “Have we arrived?” Heidel asked.

  The doors slid open, revealing a desert of sand dunes pocked with rocks, reminding me of the surface of Mars.

  “Yes,” I said, “we’ve arrived.”

  Chapter 28

  The carriage sped away as we approached the wild la
nds. Despite Maveryck’s description of the place, I couldn’t see life anywhere. No monsters or mutated plants, no pools of blood, only an endless, desolate landscape as far as we could see.

  A dry, hot wind rushed past, stirring the sand into clouds.

  “This isn’t so bad,” I said.

  “That’s because this is only the outskirts,” Maveryck answered. “We’ve yet to cross the border.”

  I tightened my grip on my pack’s strap. Father had given us enough supplies to support a small army, and my pack’s weight was proof. But would food and weapons do us any good in the place we were going?

  As the sun rose over the desolate valley and the empty expanse seemed to stretch forever, I began to doubt Maveryck’s word. This seemed no different from an ordinary desert, and I saw no signs of creatures mutated by magic. As I prepared to question him once again, we passed through a magical barrier.

  A blast of hot air radiated around me as we crossed through the magical shield. Kull and Heidel didn’t seem to notice, but Maveryck winced as we crossed it. The air shimmered in shades of white and blue, and as if we had flipped a switch, the world transformed.

  The sun shone with an orange haze as it filtered through layers of billowing, sulfur-smelling clouds. We stood in a jungle of tangled vines with carnivorous-looking flowers in shades of orange and purple. Humidity saturated the air as sounds of insects chirping came from the forest. Magic pulsed with a fever pitch from the smallest shrub to the clouds overhead. The feeling was so overwhelming, I had to stop and catch my breath.

  “What?” Heidel spun around. “Where are we?”

  “We crossed through the barrier,” Maveryck said.

  Kull unsheathed his sword. “You could have warned us.”

  “I had no way of knowing where it was.”

  My arms and legs tingled with magic, making me feel as if ants crawled under my skin. “I didn’t sense it either until we crossed through.”

  The sound of a creature howling echoed in the distance. Something disturbed the leaves overhead, making me jump back. Water pooled from the canopy, splashing us with large droplets. I wiped the liquid off my face, tasting its brine on my tongue.