by Kay L. Ling
“Onward!” Elias said cheerily.
Lana carried the lightgem and Jules lugged the pet carrier, grumbling good-naturedly all the way to the obelisk.
When they arrived, Franklin said, “I’m almost afraid to try. It seems hopeless.”
“Listen to me,” Elias said firmly. “I’ve given the matter more thought. Lana got the idea to heal you after using her gems here, and I don’t think her inspiration was a coincidence. The obelisk amplifies all gem powers, including foresight.”
A shiver of excitement ran through her. Foresight? It made sense, but it hadn’t occurred to her that the idea hadn’t been her own.
Elias said, “I’ll turn you back into a man, and then I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Lana and Jules.”
Lana shot Elias a worried glance. He wanted her and Jules to heal Franklin?
“Your Fair Lands healing gems are more powerful than my healing gems from Shadow,” he told her matter-of-factly. “I suspect that’s because sickness is common in the Fair Lands and rare here. Lana, you healed Jules. Together, you and Jules can heal Franklin.”
She glanced at Jules who gave her a determined look. Together they would make this work, she promised herself, because Franklin deserved it. She set the lightgem on the ground and took the healing stones from her pouch. Jules held his knife.
Elias said, “Enough of Franklin the bird. Let’s see Franklin the man.” An instant later, a thin crippled man with graying hair lay on the ground. His legs were twisted, particularly his left leg, which was rotated, making his foot point sideways. His paralyzed and atrophied left arm was half the size of his right arm, and the fingers on that hand curled like claws.
Jules immediately went to work, following the example Lana had set when she healed him. He wrapped Franklin’s good hand around the knife hilt, and clasped his hands around Franklin’s to maintain a tight grip. Lana felt overwhelmed when she looked at Franklin. The damage was too great. For a moment all she could do was stare.
Jules said in a hoarse voice, “Lana, help me.”
She knelt and laid an assortment of healing gems on Franklin’s paralyzed arm and on his misshapen, twisted legs. How had she ever thought they could heal this poor, broken man? And yet, hadn’t she brought Jules back from the dead? Jules with his jeweled knife was adding his strength to hers. Maybe that would be enough.
Turning her attention to Franklin’s arm, she pressed down on the gems and pictured healing power flowing into his arm and fingers. The stones grew warm and then hot. His stiff, clawed hand began to straighten, then his fingers moved slightly and his arm twitched. It was working! She left those gems where they were and moved down to his legs.
Jules’s efforts with the knife had already brought results. Franklin’s legs had straightened some, but his left leg—the most damaged and twisted—still looked pretty bad. Lana pressed the healing gemstones against Franklin’s leg and concentrated, picturing the bones shifting into proper alignment. The gems vibrated under her palm and grew so hot she could hardly touch them.
She willed the gem’s energy to radiate through damaged nerves, bones, tendons, and ligaments, and she watched Franklin nervously. Was that movement? Had she seen Franklin’s hip move? If she wasn’t mistaken, his leg had rotated somewhat in the hip socket, but it still wasn’t right. She glanced at Jules. He looked worried, probably thinking, as she was, that maybe this was the best they could do. No, she refused to give up until Franklin could stand and walk. Franklin hadn’t said a word. Maybe he was afraid to disturb their concentration.
On an impulse, Lana let go of Franklin’s leg and knelt beside Jules. She looked into his eyes, saw a stubborn determination as great as her own, and wrapped both of her hands around his. Together they held Franklin’s hand on the knife hilt.
Energy like a lightning bolt slammed through her! They gasped in unison. Healing power seemed to flow from every part of her body, coursing through her hands. Their gem powers were combining into a single, powerful force, she realized in amazement. She glanced down at Franklin’s legs, feeling giddy and light-headed, as his bones shifted and straightened. In a moment his legs looked perfectly normal and his formerly clawed hand lay flat.
Through her tears she saw Jules shaking his head in amazement.
Elias came over and said in a trembling voice, “Franklin, you look like a new man.”
Lana got to her feet, brushed tears from her face, and smiled. Jules stood and sheathed the knife.
“Do you think I’ll be able to walk now?” Franklin asked in a tremulous voice.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Elias said. He bent and held out his hand.
Gripping Elias’s hand with both of his, Franklin struggled to his feet. He paused to find his balance, and then with Elias supporting him, took a few tentative steps.
“I can walk! I can walk!” he cried, looking stunned. “How can I ever thank you all? I never expected to walk again!”
Elias said, “After you rest a bit, do you think you can walk to Strathweed? I hate to ask, but it isn’t safe to stay here. I’ll help you, and I’m sure Jules will, too.”
Franklin’s face glowed with excitement. “I’ll slow you down, but yes, I think I can manage it.”
Jules said, “I only need one hand for the carrier. I can help you.”
“So it’s settled,” Elias said. And what about you, Lana? Will you be going home now?”
“Not a chance,” she said. “I want to see you free the gnomes and throw Sheamathan Beetle in the dungeon. I have the weekend off and I can’t think of a better way to spend it.”
“I would be delighted to have you,” Elias said. “You can make coffee in the morning,” he added with a grin.
“Coffee,” Franklin said wistfully.
“May I have a word with you?” Jules asked Lana. He took her arm and steered her away. “After this weekend, I hope you’ll be a regular visitor at Strathweed. I know Elias’s past upsets you, but he’s changed. Give him a chance to prove it.”
“Yes, he’s different than I expected, and I’m really starting to like him, even though I hated him before. I—” She stopped. She could say almost the same thing about Jules. As the wolfhound, he’d frightened her out of her wits and she’d hated him, but not anymore.
His eyes were dark with emotion. “Have you had a similar change of heart for me?”
She gave him a shy smile and said, “Read my thoughts.”
As his eyes met hers, a slow smile spread across his face. He hesitated a moment, then pulled her toward him and kissed her, first tenderly, and then with a hunger and passion that took her breath away. When he let her go, he said, “Lana, you’ve had a special place in my heart for years, even though you were afraid of me.”
“I’m not afraid of you now.”
He took her hand and pressed it affectionately. “I’ll be staying with Elias for a while, and we’d both enjoy your company, so I hope you’ll come often.”
“I’d like to get to know both of you better,” she said.
They rejoined Elias and Franklin.
“Shall we go?” Elias asked. “Franklin says he’s ready, and I’d like to get Sheamathan back to Strathweed before she wakes. I’ll put her carrier in the cave with the underground river. I don’t think we’ll hear her screams of rage from there.”
Lana laughed. “Jules, you and Elias can help Franklin, and I’ll carry our new pet.”
“If you want her, she’s all yours,” Jules said. “We’ll take turns when you get tired.”
The group had nearly reached Strathweed when a high-pitched voice shrieked, “This is not amusing!”
Lana set the carrier on the ground and they bent to look inside.
Elias shone his lightgem on the furious beetle. “Actually, it’s quite amusing!” he said. “Lana, what shall we name our new pet?”
Lana stared at Sheamathan, trying to think of a good nickname. For a moment, nothing suitable came to mind, and then Ferdinand’s haunting cry
rang in her ears. “You! Gived! Us! Names!” Lana frowned at Sheamathan. The heartless wretch didn’t deserve a name.
“From now on we’ll just call her “S.”
Join us online to find out about the exciting sequel to Beyond the Forest!
Shadowglade
by Kay L. Ling
Visit us at
http://www.kaylling.com/newsletter.html
for more about gemstones and a sneak peek at Lana’s upcoming adventures.
Lana will return in Shadowglade Spring, 2017.
Chapter 1
Waking to discover you’re a giant beetle could ruin anyone’s day.
The imprisoned beetle, Sheamathan, circled her cage, feelers flicking with impotent fury. Lana watched with a satisfied smile. The cage was an artistic masterpiece, but the former Queen of Shadow didn’t seem to care. Gems of various colors twinkled from within the iron scrollwork, and the iron itself, infused with minutely-ground Fair Lands gems, sparkled with subtly shifting colors. The cage, four feet high by four feet wide, was a generous size, but too small for the despicable beetle to retreat from curious eyes.
When Sheamathan stopped circling the cage and turned toward her, Lana fought an irrational impulse to back away. Sure, the beetle couldn’t hurt her, but Lana had never liked bugs, and this one was the size of a small cat. It might be Lana’s imagination, but hatred seemed to gleam from Sheamathan’s compound eyes. Two long, curving, barbed feelers extended from the beetle’s broad, flat head. Her wings folded back over an elongated rear segment and spiky hairs covered all six legs. Lana grimaced. A hideous being deserved a hideous body.
In the dimly lit library, the cage seemed to sprout from the table since both were black. The table’s ebony-like wood had been carved around the perimeter with a vine and leaf design, and the table legs were shaped like gnarled roots.
Lana had suggested keeping the cage in the library. Sheamathan’s fortress-like castle had no cheerful rooms or pleasant alcoves, but the library was tolerable. Granted, the furniture was creepy—leather stretched over frames made of animal bones. Seriously, who but Sheamathan would find that attractive? But the rest of the room wasn’t bad. Not that anyone cared about the beetle’s comfort, but others had to look after her, and they deserved pleasant surroundings.
Floor-to-ceiling bookcases held several hundred leather-bound books, piles of scrolls and sketches, assorted curios, and small showcases filled with gems. Maps and tapestries hung on one wall. Everything looked ancient, and probably was.
Lana stepped closer to the cage. “Your library has a lot of reading material. I’d bring you a pair of reading glasses, but they don’t make them for compound eyes.”
The beetle made a strangled noise. “Laugh now while you can. You will be sorry you did this to me.”
Not likely. The beetle deserved worse. The thought of killing her had been tempting, but actually, this was a more fitting punishment. “You turned Greg and Jordy into giant rats and Franklin into a bird. Now you know how it feels. I don’t know how many years you’ll live in your new body, but I hope it’s a very long time.”
“Change me back. Your misguided ambitions will destroy you.”
“We’ll take our chances.”
The beetle waved her feelers angrily. “The breghlin will avenge me.”
“You’re kidding, right? They’re glad to be rid of you!” Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. Despite Sheamathan’s cruelty, some breghlin were still loyal to her, and Elias and Jules worried about an uprising.
“Liar!” Sheamathan rustled her wings irritably. “The breghlin fear and revere me.”
Lana gave a derisive snort. “You got the first half right—they feared you.”
The beetle moved to the opposite side of the cage as if trying to escape the unpleasant truth of her reign. “If the gnomes are foolish enough to come out of hiding, the breghlin will kill them. Gnomes are weak, defenseless creatures. Your revolution will end in bloodshed and the gnomes will never be free.”
“We’ll see.” It wouldn’t be easy to create a functional gnome society. Lana was well aware of that. The gnomes had spent generations enslaved or in hiding, but they were capable of ruling themselves, and properly armed, they should be able to hold their own against the breghlin.
Footsteps echoed down the passageway and a familiar masculine voice called, “Lana, are you here?”
“In the library,” she called back, running a hand over her chestnut waves and hoping she looked presentable in faded jeans. She’d purposely worn a green sweater to compliment her eyes.
Jules strode through the door. What had he been doing? Cobwebs clung to his tousled, light brown hair, and he had dirt smudges on his face. His tan shirt and brown pants were positively grimy.
Great-great grandfather Elias came in behind him, wearing his usual green robe, but it was filthy along the hem. Cobwebs clung to his untidy, shoulder-length gray hair. Under the best of conditions Elias wasn’t much to look at. After all, he was 170 years old, with warty, toad-like skin, a nearly lipless mouth, and a broad, flat nose. The gem master’s best feature was his intensely green eyes, like Lana’s. It wasn’t nice to say, but with a face like that, dirt and cobwebs were the least of his worries.
“Looks like you’ve been cleaning the dungeon,” Lana said, laughing.
“Good guess,” Jules said, dusting off his clothes. “We just came from there, but we weren’t cleaning.”
“No, we were dealing with prisoners,” Elias said. “The most troublesome breghlin are behind bars now.” He looked pleased with himself. “So far, we have thirty, and I hope there won’t be more.”
“Where did the rest go?” she asked.
“Back to their clans, I suppose.”
“They have clans around here?”
“Yes—within a day’s walk.”
“They won’t make trouble? The ones who left?” she asked.
“Impossible to say,” Elias replied with a shrug. “They’re still in shock, trying to grasp the fact that we defeated their queen and turned her into a beetle.”
“It seems to have taken the fight out most of them,” Jules said.
“Even so, we’re taking every precaution,” Elias assured her. “Armed gnomes are stationed throughout the castle, particularly in the dungeon.”
“I can’t get over it—gnomes guarding breghlin,” Lana said, shaking her head. “That’s certainly a role reversal.”
Casting a meaningful glance at the cage, Elias said, “Perhaps we should speak elsewhere.”
“Good idea,” Lana said. Although Sheamathan—now known simply as S—was harmless in beetle form, the less she overheard the better, if for no other reason than it infuriated her not to know what was going on. With one last glance at the cage, Lana followed Jules and Elias out of the library.
Torches in brackets cast flickering shadows on the stone passageway’s soot-stained walls, and cobwebs hung from the ceiling in eerie festoons. The stagnant air smelled like smoke and mildew.
When out of earshot of the library, Jules said to Lana, “We freed more gnomes this week.”
“From mining camps?”
He nodded. “Yes, and some from the dungeon.”
“The dungeon? Didn’t you release them all last week?”
“We couldn’t. Some needed medical care and the infirmary was full.”
“Sounds like you had a busy week. I wish I could help more, but I’ve already taken off too many days from work.”
“When are you taking over the store?” Jules asked.
“Not for a few months, but I’m spending more time there lately, getting ready for the transition.”
“That’s understandable. Don’t worry. Just come when you can,” Jules said. “How did you get here tonight? Did Raenihel bring you?”
“Raenihel brought me through the portal and Artham was waiting with a cart. I couldn’t believe it—he had a breghlin driver! A female, but still!”
“We kept a few breghlin staff.
The gnomes aren’t happy about it, but they don’t complain much in front of us. We’ll fill you in later.”
“S says the gnomes are weak and can’t stand up to the breghlin. I hope she’s wrong.” Lana said. “Gnomes have the upper hand now, and they’d better act like it.”
“How do you like S’s cage?” Jules asked.
“It turned out great. When did you finish it?”
“Yesterday. S spent the night in the dungeon, and we moved her upstairs today.”
“A simple iron cage would have held her,” Elias said, “but infusing the iron with Fair Lands gems adds another layer of protection. Jules made a wooden floor insert, which is the only area she can safely touch. If she or the breghlin touch the cage, the gems in the metal will burn them.
Distant voices echoed down the passageway. Lana tilted her head, listening. Probably guards making their rounds. It hadn’t been easy to talk gnomes into working here. Sheamathan had enslaved generations of gnomes, and Shadowglade represented everything they feared and hated. But jobs like guard duty couldn’t be assigned to breghlin.
“Even if this regime change proves relatively non-violent, we’ll still have some serious challenges,” Lana said. “The blight in my world has been stopped, but it will be years before the forest fully recovers, and the damage here is a thousand times worse.”
“Reversing generations of destruction will take a long time,” Jules agreed. “Maybe gem powers can speed the healing, but we don’t know what gems we’d need or how to go about it.”
“Right now, I have other priorities,” Elias said. “Rats, birds, and lizards have been coming to my cave, hoping I can change them back into gnomes.”
“I’m glad you can help them,” Lana said. Elias had restored some of the pitiful creatures to their rightful forms, but Sheamathan’s pets had eaten the majority and the thought made Lana sick.