The Lodestone

by J. Philip Horne

  A muffled wail came through the doors, and Sally’s heart sank. Edalwin stepped forward and pushed the doors open.

  “Jack!” Edalwin called, and strode into the hall.

  The Hall was massive, and Sally saw Jack, clothed entirely in black, held between two big, armed men wearing kilts and boots. They were twins of the soldier who’d been with Drakin that first night, and Jack twisted in their arms to look back at Edalwin. Then Drakin stepped into sight from behind a large stone pedestal that held a sphere crackling with light. He never looked at them, but continued circling the pedestal, magical energy flashing between him and the stone.

  Edalwin made an animal noise in her throat when she saw Drakin, and rushed forward, but was suddenly swept up off the ground and held suspended well above Sally’s head, her arms swept out and her head thrown back. A soft aura of light surrounded her, and Sally saw out of the corner of her eye the flashing lights around Drakin suddenly stop. She looked from Edalwin back to Drakin, and saw him lift the stone from the pedestal and quickly stride over to Jack. He barked an order, but Jack remained twisted watching Edalwin.

  “Do we enter?” Fortuna said, looking past Sally to Gerlock.

  “We must,” Gerlock said, and the two of them strode into the Hall. Light sprung up around them and they too swept their arms back and looked transfixed, though they stayed on the floor.

  Suddenly Jack screamed and dropped to the floor when the two warriors released him. He thrashed around on the floor and clawed as his neck while Drakin stood over him, saying something. Sally fought down the horror of what she saw and took off running toward him, passed Gerlock and Fortuna. A moment later, she heard other footsteps following her, but she didn’t stop to see who it was. Suddenly, Jack disappeared to the sound of a loud crack.

  Sally stopped in shock about thirty feet from Drakin, and Derek and Verdag came to a stop next to her. Drakin looked over at them scornfully, and the two warriors each drew two short, curved swords and stood facing them. Then Drakin and the warriors simply disappeared to the sound of another, larger crack.

  “Oh, no,” Sally said and sank to the ground.

  “Sally, look,” Derek said.

  Sally looked up and saw Derek pointing back toward the entrance. She twisted around and saw Gerlock and Fortuna walking toward her. She got up and went to Fortuna, who enclosed her in a hug. Peeking around Fortuna, Sally saw Edalwin slowly lowered to the ground. The aura was mostly gone, but seemed to cling to Edalwin in patches. As Edalwin’s feet touched the ground, her arms dropped and her head snapped forward. Her cats streamed out of the shadows at the edges of the hall and rushed to her.

  “Where are they?” Edalwin said striding toward them.

  “You passed the Green,” Gerlock said.

  “I’m alive. I passed, and both of you did too or you’d not be standing here. I suppose we’re the new Order of the Green. Now, where’s Jack?”

  “Gone,” Gerlock said. “Disappeared.”

  “That’s impossible,” Edalwin said. “This Hall is warded against teleportation. Wait.” She closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment. “They are on Earth, somewhere.”

  “Edalwin,” Verdag said, “Drakin took the Seal.”

  Edalwin’s eyes snapped open, and widened in shock. “I know. I know what he did. It’s been right there in front of me for four years, and I never saw it. This has always been about the Seal.”

  “So,” Derek said after waiting a moment, “can you explain? What he did?”

  “I’ve no idea how,” Edalwin said, “but Drakin made Jack into something like a Lodestone, a living Lodestone that is in a perpetual twilight between both worlds. That’s why he took a boy born on Artaeris as his raw material, but then abandoned Jack on Earth. Drakin needed Jack to have a strong affinity to both worlds. He used Jack to go from the exact spot on Earth that corresponds to this very Hall, bypassing all the defenses of the Hall against wizards who’ve not taken the Green.”

  “Can you use Jack too?” Sally asked. “Can we go after them?”

  “I would have to know exactly where Jack was, and that would take time, and I have a feeling I would have to be on the corresponding spot on Artaeris.”

  “But they just left a few minutes ago,” Sally said. “Aren’t they still on the same spot on Earth? Just look there!”

  “Sally, I don’t have any idea where that is,” Edalwin said. “The two worlds don’t exactly match up in the normal sense. I just don’t know where to start.”

  “How did Drakin do it then?” Sally asked. “He followed Jack immediately.”

  “I fear it was one of the ancient slave collars,” Edalwin said. “I saw a flash of silver around his neck before I was lifted up.”

  “We’ve got company,” Derek said.

  Sally looked toward the doors and saw a double line of soldiers march into the room. The men fanned out as they entered, and lines four deep soon spanned the hall. Gerlock started to step forward, but Edalwin put a restraining hand on his arm. Someone yelled an order from outside the room, and the soldiers all drew their swords. Edalwin calmly walked toward them.

  “Men of Fortress,” Edalwin said in a quiet voice that seemed to swell and fill the hall, “how long has it been since you have seen magic worked in this hall? Or a wizard leading two mages? Or man and dwarf standing together?”

  “It’s a lie!” shouted a voice from just outside the Hall. “They have stolen the Seal. Kill them!”

  The soldiers looked unsure, and Edalwin stepped toward the soldiers.

  “Who yells orders from the rear?” Edalwin asked. “Is it some mage or wizard that fears to enter the Hall? Have them come forward if they dare.”

  The soldiers shuffled about for a moment, but gradually a break in the line formed, opening a path back to the doors. A group of men stood just outside the doors wearing rich clothing.

  “Transom!” Edalwin said. “You have much to answer for.”

  “I answer to no one!” the man in the middle yelled. “I am a Councilor.”

  Edalwin looked back to Sally and the others and waved them to her. As they joined her she said, “Safe passage for all of us, or I will grant us passage in a way that is most unsafe for the pompous fools who have trampled Arameth’s legacy.”

  With that, Edalwin led them forward directly through the soldiers. Sally was sure they were about to be attacked, but the men only stared as they passed, and whispers swept along behind them among the soldiers. As they crossed through the doors, the Councilor and other men looked for a moment as though they would stand against her, but then parted and let them pass. Edalwin led them back through the mess of crumbled brick in the hall, and motioned Gerlock to her.

  “I have no idea which way to go,” she said quietly.

  “To the right,” Gerlock said. “We were staying at the Inn of the Singing Boar. We have supplies and money there. Now take a left up ahead.”

  With quiet prompts, Gerlock guided them back toward the servants’ quarters and out the door they had originally entered.

  “What’s next?” Fortuna asked as they walked up the stairs into the courtyard.

  “I don’t think the city is safe for us,” Edalwin said, “but I want to be able to return quickly. We need mirrors. And I need a good staff.”

  “Mirrors first, then,” Gerlock said and led them across the courtyard and out the servants’ gate. Edalwin still had a glow about her, though it was gradually diminishing, and the guards stared, but did not try to stop them. She heard muttered comments about the “filthy dwarf” and “they’re stealing the cats” as well, but Verdag faced directly forward and kept walking, and the cats didn’t seem to mind. Gerlock quickly led them through twisting streets to a very wealthy part of town. They found the merchants district, and soon came across a shop that had a mirror on display. Inside, several large mirrors and many smaller ones were laid out for purchase. Edalwin quickly sorted through them and selected two nearly identical mirrors about three feet tall and two feet w
ide.

  “Fine mirrors, indeed,” a man said coming out of a back room. He was dressed in silks of subdued colors and had a thin moustache that curled on the ends. “Oh! A dwarf! Excellent. Perhaps you have some trifling gems… uh, are these your cats perchance?”

  Edalwin glanced at him, and then leaned one of the mirrors against the wall on the floor. She mumbled words under her breath for a time, and Sally felt the hair on her arms lift as energy seemed to crackle with life in the store. The merchant looked shocked and backed up to the far side of the room. Edalwin then turned and picked up the other mirror.

  “Be right back,” she said, and then walked out the door and disappeared.

  The merchant gasped. “She just stole a mirror!”

  “Kind sir,” Fortuna said, “she is merely going to retrieve our money. She will return in a moment, and we shall remain here as proof.”

  “Well,” the man mumbled, “this is all very suspect. Very improper.”

  They waited, and after a few minutes, Sally stepped over to look at her reflection. She still wore the clothes she had been given at the farm, and in the past two days she’d added yet more stains and wear to the rough-cut trousers and shirt. Suddenly, the reflection in the mirror warped, and she was looking at Edalwin. Sally gasped and leapt back as Edalwin crouched and scooted through the mirror and into the room.

  “Good sir,” Edalwin said, stepping over to the merchant who cringed away from her. “A gold crow per mirror?”

  She reached into a small pouch she now held and pulled out two gold coins. For all his fear, the man’s hand immediately snaked out and took the coins. Edalwin turned to them.

  “Through the mirror, all of you.”

  “Shouldn’t you say ‘through the looking glass’?” Derek said smiling.

  Edalwin smirked back at him and shooed them forward. Sally took a deep breath and stepped over to the mirror and then through it. She was back in the cellar at the Inn of the Singing Boar. She stood for a moment in awe, but felt a sharp poke behind her and stepped out of the way as Fortuna scooted through after her. Once Derek, Gerlock, Verdag, and the eight cats had joined them, the mirror suddenly became just a mirror again. Five minutes later, the door to the kitchen opened, and Edalwin came down the stairs into the cellar carrying the other mirror.

  “I need rest and food,” Edalwin said, “and time so I can find Jack. I’ve asked our host to bring down food and sleeping pallets. Make sure you are ready to go at a moment’s notice, but otherwise get some rest. I fear we’ll need it soon enough.”

  Chapter 24

  RESOLVE

  JACK LAY ON his back staring at the ceiling, picking at the silver collar fused into his neck. The lantern had just been removed from his room, and he was pretty sure that meant it was late at night and time to go to bed. He wanted to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes he could see Drakin’s mad eyes glowing with an inhuman force, his hands clutching the Seal.

  He’d tried to stop Drakin. Something had caught up Edalwin, so when Drakin had come to him with the Seal, he’d refused to think of Earth. Drakin had not been gentle with him, and Jack had clung to thoughts of Artaeris like a dying man. It hadn’t been enough. As the pain stripped him of every rational thought, his mind had slipped back to thoughts of Edalwin and their home. Apparently, that was all it took, because the next moment Jack had found himself back in the park with Drakin and his goons right behind him.

  What was he to do? Jack wasn’t sure Drakin even needed him anymore, but if he did, how could he stop the wizard? He lay still and chewed on the problem. As sleep finally overtook him, a dim thought leapt to mind. A plan of sorts. Jack clung to it as he drifted off to sleep.

  “Up, boy.”

  Jack slowly opened his eyes to lantern light and a kilted guard standing over him. He sat up and took stock. A tray of food sat at the foot of his bed with a large glass of water. His body felt rested, so it must be the next morning.

  “Eat. We leave in ten minutes.”

  With that, the guard turned and left. Jack quickly ate and then paced the small room, walking a U-shaped path around the bed and back. After nine laps, the door opened and one of the guards waved him out. He took a deep breath and headed out the door, one guard leading and one following. They took him once again to the mirror room, where Drakin was waiting. He was holding the Seal near his face, and his eyes reflected the crackling lights within the stone.

  “Jack, I need your services again,” said Drakin, putting the Seal in a belt bag.

  “No,” Jack said.

  Drakin smiled, and it chilled Jack’s bones. “We’re off to the village again, and you are going to help me go back and forth between the worlds.”

  “Why there?” Jack asked.

  “Because I know where we’ll arrive on Earth. We don’t want to jump to some random place and end up in a volcano, do we? It’s not like I’ve bothered to calculate every point of crossing.”

  Jack drew a deep breath and prepared himself. “I won’t do it.”

  “We’ll see,” Drakin said, and led them through the mirror to the village and out onto the green.

  Jack’s heart was racing. He knew the pain was going to be unbearable, but that was only part of the problem. It was just so hard to not think about something. It was almost as if the act of trying to not think about it brought it to mind. Unlike yesterday, though, Jack had a strategy. He would not try to clear his mind. He would instead fill it with something worthless.

  “Okay, boy, think of that home you had with Edalwin,” Drakin said. “Think of the good times you had together.”

  Jack concentrated on his teeth. He closed his eyes and tried to tune out the world and picture his teeth. In his mind’s eye he saw each one starting with the front teeth on top. He had just reached the molars when Drakin growled and pain slammed into him through the necklace. As before, the pain locked up Jack’s diaphragm so he had to gasp for air, momentarily driving all thoughts from his mind. His legs buckled and he fell to the ground and his arms involuntarily jerked around. Through it all, he tried to hold onto an image of his teeth. When the image started to slip, he pictured his toes, and then his fingers. As his body thrashed about in agony, Jack thought only of himself, and kept his mind far from thoughts of the worlds. A few seconds later he passed out.

  When he came to, he was being carried slung over the shoulder of one of the guards. His head throbbed and he had trouble thinking, but he saw the gray walls of Drakin’s fortress and mirrors along the walls. The guard stepped forward and Jack saw a mirror frame flash by. Sunlight washed over marble walls, and the air felt different, almost thicker. A loud gong sounded. The guard carried him forward, and Jack was forced to close his eyes to keep his stomach from rebelling. They stopped a moment later, and he kept his eyes closed while he waited for the world to stop spinning.

  “Master,” a man said. Jack didn’t recognize him. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “Listen carefully, Thomas.” That was Drakin for sure. “Take the portal to my keep and await me there. Go now.”

  “Of course, master,” Thomas said. “Let me just gather some supplies for the trip.”

  “Gather nothing. My servants have been instructed to see to your needs. Go now. I will be closing the portal, so do not expect to come back until I return.”

  “I see,” Thomas said. “Well. I will go, then.”

  Footsteps went by Jack, and he risked a quick look and saw black robes sweep by followed by deep red robes. Jack raised his head a bit and saw Drakin standing before a lone mirror that looked into another room, and then went blank, reflecting Drakin and the room in which they stood. Drakin wasn’t holding the Seal, but a leather bag hung heavily from a belt around his robe.

  “Put the boy down,” Drakin said. “He’s awake.”

  The guard immediately laid him down on the ground, and Drakin took two quick steps toward him and kicked him in the ribs. Jack felt a grinding pain and heard a bone crack. He tried to scream as he rolled a
way from the kick, but his chest flared with pain as he drew in a big breath and he only managed to whimper.

  “Up,” Drakin said.

  The two guards grabbed Jack under the arms and lifted him. This time he did manage a small scream as his bones ground against each other. Drakin was already striding from the room, and the guards herded him forward. He walked hunched over, gingerly clutching his chest, hardly noticing the opulence of the rooms and hallways through which they walked. Men and women in uniforms of some kind scattered as they approached, obviously terrified. Drakin stopped before two large wooden doors and barked an order. Two men came running from a small side room, unbarred the doors and swung them open.

  As Jack followed Drakin through the doors, he was surprised to see the palace they were leaving sat in a clearing within a jungle. Maybe a rainforest, Jack thought. He wasn’t really sure what the difference was, but it looked like a jungle of some kind. Morning sun flooded the clearing. They walked down stone stairs onto a path lined with hard-packed sand that led into the jungle. Layer upon layer of vegetation reached up to tremendous heights above them as they left the clearing behind them. The noisy birdsong, clacking and chirping of insects, and barking and hooting of larger animals was almost deafening.

  Huge vines draped the trees. For a moment Jack’s mind went blank, but then he remembered. They were the exact same kind of vines that draped the red oak on the hill at Hillacre. Then he felt what had been there all along, a Lodestone just ahead and its more distant twin on Earth. It was Hillacre. They were approaching the Artaeris twin of the Lodestone at Hillacre.

  It came into view a moment later, an out-of-place, barren hill in the middle of the jungle. The path they were on wound its way to the top, and Drakin led the group up.

  “I want to thank you, Jack, for the inspiration,” Drakin said as they ascended. “This will be much easier, much less exhausting, than hurling you between the worlds using only your affinities, and I fear we will need to travel many, many times.”

  Jack had no idea what he was talking about. They reached the top of the hill, and Drakin turned to him. A wave of force hit him, and Jack felt him tumble free of Artaeris. He blinked, and found himself on the Hillacre Lodestone, a few yards downhill from the red oak at the summit. He was stunned. Drakin had thrown him across the worlds without any help from him. It had to be the Lodestones. Somehow, being on a Lodestone had made the passage easier.