The Lodestone

by J. Philip Horne

  “Okay,” Derek said. “Let’s go see them.”

  “We’re not done yet,” Jeff said, leaning forward with his elbows on the desk. “They came with us. Let us take their weapons, load them up, and bring them here. We gave the adults a pat down, and it was a good thing—they both had two other knives hidden on them. We checked the kids as well and were going to put them in a separate cell from the adults. Anyway, my deputy doing the checking takes this necklace off the boy.” The sheriff lifted a leather thong with a beautifully rendered silver acorn pendant from the desk. “He was just being thorough. Well, they all went insane, like we were raining death on them. It wasn’t just yelling. All four of them went berserk. They’re all locked up, and I’ve got the necklaces, as the girl was wearing one too, but I had two deputies end up in the hospital in the struggle, and they may be a little banged up.”

  Jeff picked up another necklace from his desk and handed both to Derek as he got up. The second one was the same, but had a silver pinecone.

  “They fought over these?” Derek said as he stood up.

  “Like rabid raccoons. All right, follow me. Let’s go introduce you to the crazies.”

  ~~~~

  Jack wept with frustration. He had felt in his bones the Lodestone they had come through at dawn merge with its pair on the other world a short while ago. If there really had been a wizard with the group that attacked the ranger encampment, he could be within miles now, with the ability to sense Jack. Sally elbowed him, and Jack lifted his face out of his hands and sat up.

  He sat on a bench along the back wall of a small jail cell. The steel cage and three others like it were housed in a large room with a few chairs and a desk along the opposite wall with the main door to the room. The door was open now, and the sheriff stepped into the room with another man who was wearing a bulky black vest with a gun in a shoulder holster over it. The second man was tall and athletic compared to the sheriff, with close-cut black hair and hooded, dark eyes. He paused after entering the room and looked at Jack and Sally, and then over at Gerlock and Fortuna in the adjoining cell.

  “Jack, Sally, I’m Director Derek Harland with the FBI. I’m helping out the CARD team working your case. That’s FBI-speak for Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team.”

  He grabbed a chair near the door as he spoke and swung it over toward the door to the cell and sat down.

  “Sheriff Anderson, can you give us a moment?” Derek asked the big man. The sheriff nodded and headed back out the door, closing it behind him.

  “You two want to tell me what’s going on?” Derek asked. “Sally, you’ve got some very concerned parents waiting for you at home.”

  “Please,” Jack said, before Sally could respond, “give us back our amulets.”

  “These?” Derek said, lifting the two silver amulets from a pocket. “Sure thing. All I’m asking is that you briefly explain what’s been going on this week. Where’s Edna Littleworth?”

  Something inside Jack snapped. “We don’t know where she is, but none of us are going to be alive long enough to find out if we don’t get those amulets back!”

  “I’ll tell you everything, okay?” Sally said in a much calmer voice. “Please just give us the amulets first.”

  Derek’s eyes narrowed for a moment, and then he nodded and stuck his hand through the bars, holding out the amulets. Sally and Jack rushed forward and grabbed them. As Jack slipped his around his neck, the pull of the Lodestones faded. He just hoped it hadn’t been too late. He sat back down on the bench and pulled his knees up to his chest. He was done. Sally could tell the story.

  “All right, here’s what happened,” Sally said, “though you’re not going to believe any of it. Jack and I were up on the hill Monday evening when there was a bang and we saw these two men with a bunch of monsters heading for town, so we ran to Miss Edna’s house and told her about them, because she had just gotten home from the hospital. She got worried, and changed into a wizard’s robe, and got her staff and shotgun. Then they attacked, and Edalwin, er, Miss Edna shot a bunch of the monsters, but Drakin, this evil wizard who knew her, came through the door with some warrior guy.”

  Sally took a slow breath, and then continued. “Next, Miss Edna had the house attack the men, and the warrior guy went down and the wizard ran away, but the Seeker had attacked Jack and poisoned him, so Miss Edna said we had to go to another place where she would have her full powers so she could heal Jack. We had to stop a lot so she could take care of Jack, who wasn’t really aware of much, but we drove up toward Salina, Kansas, to a hill. We talked some. Miss Edna said she’d been running from her past for too long, but had to face things to protect Jack. So we went to the hill, and she took us to another world, where we met Gerlock and Fortuna.”

  “Another world?” Derek asked.

  “Yes,” Sally said. “Edalwin left us with some rangers to try to work with the Wizard’s Council to sort things out, and that night some wizard attacked our camp. It wasn’t Drakin. Fortuna caught a glimpse of him and told me he was a Black Robe, but I’m not really sure what that means, but it wasn’t Drakin, right Fortuna? Then we fled and got chased all night, but Jack discovered he could work the Lodestones too and brought us back to Earth at dawn. And then the cops arrested us, even though we haven’t done anything.”

  Derek stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of the cells. After a minute, he stopped in front of Gerlock and Fortuna.

  “Good evening,” he said. “I suppose you are from the other world?”

  “Artaeris,” Gerlock said. “The name of our world is Artaeris.”

  That was news to Jack. He hadn’t thought to ask if the other world had a name.

  “Ma’am,” Derek said, “you’d agree? You are from a world called Artaeris?”

  Fortuna stood and stepped to the front of the cell, a foot from where Derek stood just outside the jail cell bars. She was an imposing woman, Jack decided. She probably stood close to six feet tall, and was pretty as far as Jack could tell. Derek got that awkwardness men seemed to develop around pretty women as she stepped close.

  “Are you asking me a question,” Fortuna asked, “or mocking us?”

  “I’m in no mood to mock anyone after what I’ve seen of this case,” Derek said.

  Fortuna nodded. “I’m from Artaeris.”

  “Let me ask you something about Edna Littleworth, and I need a straight answer,” Derek said. “How old is she?”

  “He means Edalwin,” Jack said to Fortuna and Gerlock.

  “We don’t know Edalwin Stormbringer’s exact age,” Fortuna said. “Many years ago she committed a great evil on Artaeris and then disappeared into history. Now she’s back and seems to want to set things right.”

  “How many years ago did she do this, uh, great evil,” Derek said.

  “During the dark days of the Second Wizards’ War. About two hundred years ago,” Fortuna answered.

  Derek grimaced and started pacing again. Suddenly, a tremendous shock rocked the building, throwing him against the wall. Several cracks appeared near the ceiling and spread down the walls of the room, and a monstrous howl sounded from above.

  “We are so dead,” Jack said under his breath.

  Chapter 10

  ESCAPE

  “DEREK HARLAND,” GERLOCK shouted, leaping forward to the cell door, “they have found us. We are going to die! Get us out of these cages! Now!”

  Derek looked from Gerlock to Jack to Sally, then his eyes rested on Fortuna for a moment before he sprang for the room’s door. He flung it open and shouted down the hall for help. A bellow roared above them, and the building took another tremendous blow. Dust rained down from the ceiling.

  A deputy stumbled into the room, and Derek tore the jail cell keys away from him. He fumbled the key into the lock on Jack and Sally’s cell, worked it, and swung the door open. A second later he had the other cell opened, freeing Gerlock and Fortuna. The man who had brought the keys turned and ran back out of the room, drawing h
is gun.

  “Please, please don’t make me regret this,” Derek said.

  Fortuna reached out and gave his arm a squeeze.

  “What is that thing?” Derek asked.

  “A wyvern, which means a wizard is here as well,” Fortuna said, “though I’m not sure what power the wizard will have.”

  “Wait,” Derek said. “A wyvern? Like, a dragon?”

  “Yes, but better at flying,” Gerlock said.

  Sally grabbed Jack’s hand and squeezed, and Jack squeezed back. His heart was racing along with his thoughts. This nightmare just wasn’t going to end without Drakin being stopped. Edalwin had stood up to Drakin, and she’d cared for Jack like no one else in his life. It had taken a couple years for him to put a name on it, but he eventually had figured out it was love. There was no way she was some evil wizard from history, or at least she wasn’t that person anymore. They needed to get back to her, and that meant they needed to get back to Artaeris. He had to think, to figure out what to do.

  “Listen,” Jack said. “The wizard tracked me here from the Lodestone. He must have. But the amulet’s hiding me now. And from what Edalwin said, the wizard won’t have much power apart from stuff, like his staff. We can make a run for it, but we’ve got to get back to Artaeris and find Edalwin. She’s the only one who can stand up to Drakin.”

  Derek visibly collected himself. “Look, I don’t know about wyverns and other worlds, but here’s how we play this. First, we get out of here alive. We get to my truck and make for reinforcements. I’ve got people inbound from Kansas City. Let’s get moving. Me and Fortuna up front. Then you kids, with Gerlock at the back. Got it? Let’s roll!”

  The group ran through the door into a hallway that Jack vaguely remembered from earlier that day. As they sprinted forward, a tremendous concussion shook the building, followed by a rending, crashing sound, like part of the building had collapsed. Gunshots echoed ahead of them as they turned left at a T and started forward again. There was a low frequency boom from a hallway up ahead to the right, and a deputy came flying backward across their hallway, hit the wall on the far side, and collapsed to the floor. Gunfire crackled from around the corner, followed by another concussion that shook the building and several muffled screams.

  “Back this way!” Derek yelled, turning the group back up the hall. Behind them, the building started collapsing under a monstrous weight. Jack’s world narrowed down to Derek’s back as they wound through the building looking for an exit. They arrived in a conference room with an exterior window. Derek seized a chair, threw it through the window, and pushed the table over to the window frame.

  “Let’s go. Gerlock, you first. Kids are coming next,” Derek said.

  Gerlock was through the window in a flash, and Sally was helped up and through by Derek. Jack leapt up on the desk and jumped through, and felt Gerlock’s strong arms catch him on the other side. Fortuna was right behind Jack, and then Derek joined them and they were off and running again. Derek led them in a low crouch along the building. The tremendous noise of destruction continued, coming from the roof of the building. At the corner of the building, Derek pulled to a stop and signaled them to circle up with him.

  “That’s my truck, the black one a row over,” Derek said, then clicked the remote and the taillights flashed twice. “Okay, we ready? Go!”

  Jack sprinted forward with the group. He glanced to the left toward the front entrance of the building as they went, and wished he hadn’t. A single bulb remained lit on the front of the building, and it cast shadows over several bodies sprawled in the parking lot. A moment later they were at the SUV, and he pushed past Gerlock who was fumbling with the door trying to figure out how to open it. Swinging the door open, Jack jumped in and scooted up to the front passenger seat while Gerlock, Sally, and Fortuna piled in. The rear door slammed shut as Derek cranked the engine and hit the gas.

  They shot out onto the street, and Jack looked back through the rear window. Massive, sinuous coils rose above the roof and sank back beneath, and then the head of the wyvern lifted up and swung around to look directly at them. Its head was the size of a car and looked like the dragon costumes Jack had once seen at a Chinese New Year celebration. Then they were around a corner and the monster disappeared from view behind a building.

  “Did you guys see it?” Jack asked. “It looked right at us. It knew.”

  “I saw something ridiculous in the rear view mirror,” Derek said. “You think it will follow?”

  “They’ll follow,” said Fortuna. “Is it safe to go this fast?”

  Jack looked back. Fortuna and Gerlock looked genuinely scared as they watched the world fly by.

  “Only going sixty,” Derek said. “When we make this turn up ahead onto the highway, then you’ll see fast. Here we go.”

  The tires protested with loud squeals as they rounded a big left turn, flashed by a sign for State Highway 56, a solidly red traffic light, and in between two cars traveling the other way on the highway. Their horns drifted to the rear as Derek accelerated forward. Jack leaned over and checked the speedometer. A hundred and ten miles an hour.

  “Okay, I’ve got to call in the cavalry,” Derek said. “Give me a moment.”

  “They have cavalry?” Gerlock said quietly behind him.

  “No, it’s an expression,” Sally said. “I think he means other FBI agents with bigger guns.”

  The SUV lurched to the right as Derek cut out into the oncoming lane to pass a slow-moving car, then rocked back to the left as he came back over. Jack heard Gerlock stifle a scream. Derek popped a headset into his ear and hit a speed dial on his phone.

  “Hey Ryan, need help,” Derek said. “No point in telling you what it is, because you won’t believe me until you see it. Where are you?”

  Derek listened for a moment, and then scrolled his Navi north and a bit east to Salina. “Okay, listen, I’ve got the four of them. Don’t know how many of the cops are still alive, as we had to make a run for it, but call in SWAT, EMT, everything you can to go help them. What? No, I think we had the good guys. I’ve got them with me. Hold on, listen. Set up with all the firepower you have off I-135 five miles south of Salina on the northbound side. I’ll call when I’m close.”

  Derek hung up the phone and pulled the headset out of his ear. “How are you guys doing? Everyone okay? Yeah? So, my mind is having a little trouble with the concept, but you two really are from a different world, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” Gerlock said.

  “We are,” Fortuna said. “Your world Earth is almost as new to us. We knew of it, but had never been here.”

  “And that giant dragon thing back there, the wyvern,” Derek said. “Also from your world?”

  “Yes,” Gerlock said. “I cannot really imagine how it was brought over here. I’ve heard of wizards bringing small groups through the Lodestones, but mages are taught that the wizards have limits and cannot bring large groups with them. Something must have been planned beforehand, yet Drakin could not have predicted these events.”

  “Contingencies,” Jack said. “That’s what Edalwin called them. Plans for possibilities, not just what you are doing. Drakin is always ahead of us. We got lucky when he attacked the house. He didn’t expect to see Edalwin, and she’d set up her house for defense.”

  “From what we’ve seen, he has probably been setting things in motion for years,” Fortuna said. “The troops that attacked our camp were nearby, yet we knew nothing of them. Drakin must have a new generation of Black Robes working with him, and have concealed a portal somewhere near us.”

  “But why does he want Jack?” Sally asked.

  “It must have something to do with the Lodestones,” Gerlock said, “but I truly do not know.”

  The group fell quiet, and Derek continued to drive with reckless speed. After a while, they came to the interstate, and Derek turned left and took the onramp headed north. Jack’s eyes were feeling heavy, and he started to doze off. Bright light suddenly flashed across
his closed eyelids, and he snapped his eyes open. Oncoming cars on the other side of the median were swerving wildly and running off the road.

  “That doesn’t look good,” Derek said. “They’re seeing something behind us.”

  Derek slammed on the brakes swerved toward the left shoulder. The SUV careened from side to side but stayed upright as it rapidly slowed. A massive shape flashed over the vehicle and slammed into the pavement just ahead of them. Sally screamed, and Jack was pretty sure he would have also if his throat hadn’t locked up in fear. He watched in silent horror as the beast slid forward on its scaly belly down the highway, scattering cars. The wyvern looked like a giant snake, hugely thick in the middle, and probably a hundred feet long. It had two tree-trunk legs about a third of the way down its body, and used them to keep itself from rolling over as it slid. Behind the legs massive wings sprouted from its back and reached out into the shadows on either side of the highway. Jack thought he saw a dark shape straddling the beast just in front of the wings, but his view was obscured as it slowly rotated while it slid forward.

  Derek slammed on the gas and drove after it.

  “What are you doing?” Sally screamed.

  “Gambling,” Derek said.

  The SUV rushed forward and started to gain on the wyvern when it heaved itself up with its legs and pumped its wings down, lifting into the air. It gained altitude for a moment, and then curved off to the right into darkness just as they passed underneath it.

  “Was counting on that,” Derek said. “They didn’t know we were coming up behind, so hopefully we bought a few minutes. Gerlock, keep a sharp eye out. Fortuna, here, I’ll open the sunroof. Let me know when it’s inbound.”

  Derek dialed his phone again.

  “Ryan,” Derek said into his headset, “be ready for anything. We are coming in hot and need cover. All right. We’re a few minutes out.”

  “Listen,” Jack said as Derek hung up, “I need to take off the amulet to find a Lodestone.”