Kull and Heidel woke as the carriage slowed. When we reached the city’s wall, the light-carriage stopped. The doors slid open, revealing towers bathed in red from the glare of the morning sun.
We exited the carriage in an area filled with people gathered along a road that stretched toward the capitol. Tents and small stone buildings crowded the road, and getting through the densely packed bodies took longer than I’d hoped. When we finally reached the gates, we didn’t enter as everyone else. Instead, Maveryck led us away from the looming gates and walked down a worn-looking dirt path that took us around the gates to a grate in the stone.
The echo of voices came from behind us as Maveryck knelt and removed the fake grate, which wasn’t secured to the wall, and then ushered us through. The opening was only wide enough to allow us to crawl inside. Soon my palms were coated in a layer of grit and my claustrophobia made it hard to breathe, but after shuffling through the tunnel and making it down a steep grade, we entered a broad, brick-lined passageway.
As I dusted off my leather pants, I scanned the tunnel. Fae lanterns glowed in sconces along the walls, casting our world in an eerie glow of blue. The light only illuminated small areas of the walls and floor around them, leaving the rest of the tunnel in darkness. My skin bristled at the chill in the damp air filling the corridor. Water dripped in slow, rhythmic beats somewhere up ahead.
“How did you know this was here?” Heidel asked Maveryck, her voice echoing around the chamber.
“There are perks to once belonging to a secret organization. Follow me.” He waved us forward as he walked into the depths of the tunnel.
Kull fell into step beside me as Heidel and Maveryck walked ahead.
“Once again,” Kull muttered, “we follow him blindly. I had hoped to be done with this, especially after last time.”
“I know you don’t like it, and neither do I, but I don’t know of a better way inside the city. Plus, if he takes us to my father, we’ll at least have one person to trust.” I cleared my throat. “Sort of.”
Kull kept his hand wrapped around his sword’s pommel. Maveryck and Heidel made conversation up ahead, but they spoke too softly to hear. I supposed I could eavesdrop and allow my elven hearing to let me in on their conversation, but I resisted the urge.
The tunnel grew narrower and ended at a plain wooden door. Maveryck waited for us to catch up, then lifted the latch and led us through. We entered a small, circular room with a ladder leading to a grate in the ceiling. Maveryck ascended the ladder first and removed the grate, and then the rest of us followed.
We climbed out of the tunnel and up to a narrow alleyway. Wind whipped through the passageway, carrying the scent of herbs and flowers. In most cities, one might expect to find the scent of rotting garbage in a back alley like this one, but not here. In Lauressa, the elves expected everything to be honed to perfection.
Still, the alley had a barren feel created by its stark black stones and cramped buildings, an atmosphere made worse by the biting cold wind.
Maveryck pulled his cloak’s cowl low over his face.
“I’ll make sure we stay in the alleys and back passages,” Maveryck said, “but I can’t guarantee we won’t be noticed. You’d all be wise to keep your hoods up and your heads down.”
We pulled our cloak hoods over our heads and then followed the thief as he led us through the alley. A few elves passed us, but they kept their distances without giving us a second glance.
The city felt different from the last time I visited. For one thing, I didn’t see any children on the streets, and the only sounds came from wagon wheels creaking and the shout of an occasional vendor. Colors were muted, lights seemed dimmer—there seemed to be a pall cast over the entire city.
The castle’s main tower rose above the rest of the buildings, and as we approached it, I began to recognize the area near my father’s cottage. We passed by an open park with spindle-straight trees and a pond with water that rippled in the wind, making waves lap against the pebble-strewn shore. The park benches, crafted to look like roots growing from the ground, sat empty. After the park, we entered the district surrounding the castle. Ornate stonework covered the buildings; cobblestones mixed with sparkling crystals paved the streets.
We took a road that led us behind the buildings. Soon, we entered another open park area where mossy grass grew like carpet and fairies built homes in the trees. Beneath the trees’ sprawling green canopies, we found cottages built in the style of the elves’ ancestors. Some were built around the trees and spanned several stories, while others sat away from the rest. It seemed an odd place for a woodland village, right here in the heart of the city, but elves had a thing about nature, so they reserved these homes for important people—people like my dad.
As we approached my father’s cottage, I hesitated to walk to the door with the others. I’d never gotten along well with my dad. Although he had his reasons, he’d never visited me much when I was a kid, and even after his explanations and apologies, I half expected him to turn me away again. Rejection was a hard emotion to live with. Still, if I wanted to know what had happened to Mom, and if we wanted to know where the elves had taken the staff, then I had no choice but to face him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Maveryck knocked on the door. After a moment, the door opened, and my father stood on the other side. His eyes snagged on me.
“Olive?”
“Hi, Father.”
He looked from me to the rest of the group. “Maveryck, you received my message?”
“Yes. We must speak with you, Magistrate Pozin. As you know, it’s of the utmost importance.”
“Very well. Come inside quickly. You shouldn’t be out in the open like this.”
My father ushered us inside. After we entered, he shut the door behind us, locking us away from the howling wind and outside world.
A fire crackled in the hearth, sending warmth throughout the room, radiating ocher light over the parquet floors, the pillars carved with vines and bunches of grapes, and the mahogany furniture accented with mother-of-pearl and gold leaf. We removed our cloaks and hung them on pegs near the door. Father’s home hadn’t changed much, except I did notice books strewn on the couches and chairs, and several more tomes piled on one of the round tables near the couch.
Father hastily picked up the books and shelved them. “Did you have any trouble getting here?”
“No,” Maveryck answered. “The city seems unusually quiet.”
“Yes, it’s been that way for some time now. Please, have a seat. I shall prepare the tea.”
We sat on the couches and waited on my father. Kull and Heidel sat with straight backs and shifted uncomfortably. The cushions had never been made for comfort, though my dad didn’t seem to mind.
The scent of mint filled the room, and the hissing of the teakettle whistled from the kitchen. Soon, Father returned and placed a tray on a table near the couch. We took our cups and Father sat across from us, his face lined with worry.
I hadn’t realized it earlier, but Dad looked older. He had several more gray hairs threaded through his long hair, and wrinkles lined his eyes and forehead. I knew the magic loss last year hadn’t been easy on him, and it seemed life hadn’t been kind to him, either. I wanted to ask if he knew where Mom was, but I held my tongue. If she were here, the last thing he would do was tell me with the possibility of being found out.
“The staff,” Maveryck said as he placed his cup on the table. “Your message said you know its location.”
“I do not know its location, exactly, but I am close to finding it.” Father steepled his fingers as he peered at us. “I have been keeping a close eye on the nobles. My status gives me access to almost all places in the castle. Several days ago, I watched a Wult man being locked in the dungeon. I found it strange that the elves would imprison him, so after the guards left, I visited him.
“He told me his name was Euric and he had worked with the elves to
remove the staff from Danegeld. He was angry with the king and thought that by taking the staff, it would make him look incompetent. The Wult man aided the elves in bringing the staff back to Lauressa, and then aided them further still by helping them hide it in a new location. However, he’d seen too much, and so instead of rewarding him as he had thought, the elves locked him up.
“After I met with him, I sent the message to you.”
Kull spoke up. “Did Euric say where the staff is now?”
“He said only that the elves had taken it through a gateway located in the inner sanctum in the catacombs. I tried to go there, but it was heavily guarded. Not even I could enter.”
“A gateway?” I asked. “Gateway to where?”
Father stood and removed one of the books from the shelf. “That is what I have been trying to determine. We know that the staff belonged to the Madralorde—assuming the stories are true—and we know the talismans were once housed on Tremulac Isle. But no one has ever been able to discover the location of the rumored isle.”
Father laid the book on the table and opened it to a map of the city of Lauressa. “There may be a reason for that,” he said. “If you look at the map, you can see that our city is built with a series of underground tunnels beneath it.” He pointed to the map, which showed an elaborate web of tunnels below the city’s foundation.
“Yes,” Heidel said. “Didn’t we travel through one of those tunnels in order to get inside?”
“We did,” Maveryck answered, “but I thought those tunnels were built by the Gravidorum.”
“That is what I believed as well, except after doing some research, I learned that those tunnels date back thousands of years, well before the Gravidorum came to this city.”
“Then who built them?” I asked.
“It’s possible those tunnels were built by the Madralorde. They may have created a gateway from Tremulac to Lauressa, but in order to open the gateway, one would have to be in the castle at Tremulac.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
Father leafed through the book to a page near the back. On the paper, a map of the elven continent, Laurentia, had been inked in detail onto the parchment. In the center of the page, where the city of Lauressa should have been drawn, sat empty space.
“What happened to the city?” Kull asked.
“It’s hidden,” my father answered. “Several hundred years ago, the elven nobles tasked several of their best wizards with the project of hiding the city. Their experiments were successful, and they managed to cloak the city for several days. Outside the city walls, the countryside seemed to continue on forever. And above, it seemed as though only fields were beneath.”
“That’s interesting,” I said. “Do you think the same thing happened to Tremulac?”
“I’m not sure. It took a great amount of power to fuel the spell that hid Lauressa, so if the same thing were to happen at Tremulac, and for it to last for so long a time, seems improbable.”
“But not impossible,” Kull said.
“Even if the island was hidden by magic, how would we find it?” I asked.
“What if we were to follow the elves through this gateway you spoke of?” Heidel asked.
“No, I’m afraid that is not a possibility. The elven queen is expecting you to come after the staff, and she has prepared a trap for the four of you. If any one of you were to pass through her gateway, the queen would immediately be alerted to your presence and take you prisoner. She needs a blood sacrifice to initiate the spell, and it would be within her reasoning to use any one of you. I believe we would be safer finding an alternate path to Tremulac.”
“Is it even possible to find?” Kull asked. “Some have been searching for centuries and have never found it. It doesn’t seem likely that we will.”
“Except that we have an advantage,” Father said.
“What advantage?” Heidel asked.
“For an entire castle to be hidden by a spell, it would put off a great deal of magical energy. In theory, we should be able to find the castle by searching for the spell.”
“If that’s so,” I said, “then why hasn’t anyone found it before us?”
“Because they never knew what sort of spell to search for. The queen and her royals discovered it recently, and if they could find it, then we should be able to do the same.”
“But where do we start?” I asked. “It could take ages to roam through the countryside looking for a spell.”
“We won’t have to.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve already narrowed down the search area.” Father flipped to a section of the book that mapped the wild lands. He pointed to several large lakes at the center of the page. “I believe Tremulac exists on one of these lakes.”
“The wild lands?” Maveryck said. “Have you been there yourself?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then how do you know it’s there?” Heidel asked.
“Because I have been closely following the royalty. I was able to scry upon Veladon, the queen’s vizier, one evening as he left the castle. He entered the wild lands, and I could see no more after he entered, but when he returned, a gateway was opened up in the catacombs beneath the city—a gateway that led to Tremulac.”
“So you believe Veladon found Tremulac in the wild lands and created a portal back to Lauressa?”
“Precisely.”
Kull worked his jaw back and forth. “I still think it would be easier to enter through the catacombs under the city. The wild lands aren’t far if we take the rails, but we’ll only get as far as the border. Once we arrive, we’d be lucky to survive crossing that waste.”
“At any other time, I would agree,” my father said. “But it’s too risky. The sky king will perish, the queen will harness Theht’s powers, and there is more at stake than even you can fathom. I must insist that you make this journey. The wild lands are dangerous, yes, but they are safer than the alternative.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused. “What else is at stake? What could possibly be worse than my stepfather’s death? Or the queen ruling with Theht’s powers?”
After I asked it, I realized what a dumb question it was. By now, I should have known to never ask how things could get worse.
My father took in a deep breath, then he stood. “If you will promise not to speak of what I reveal to you, I shall show you all.”
“Show us what?” Kull asked.
Father shook his head. “Follow me if you wish to see. But be warned, this must stay between us.”
We stood and followed my father down a short hallway, but we passed the doors and stopped instead at a blank wall. He lifted his hand and whispered a word of magic, making his fingers glow blue. The power of his spell made my skin tingle with an electrical intensity. I took a step back just to be away from that amount of power.
The glow from his hands spread outward toward the wall, revealing a door hidden by magic. As the spell gave way, the door came into full view. Without speaking another word, Father lifted the latch and led us inside a large room.
As I stepped inside, I gasped.
My mother sat on one of the many beds inside the chamber. She held a baby in her arms. Other women were in the room also, and I found several cribs lining the walls. Sounds of babies cooing and softly whimpering came from the cribs. When my mom looked up, her eyes met mine. Surprise lit her face.
“Olive?” she gasped.
She handed the baby to one of the women and came to me. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around me, catching me by surprise. I had to remind myself that this was Kasandra Kennedy without the spells. The old Kasandra would have never hugged me so publicly, but the new mom, the real mom, did it without a second thought.
“You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” she said. As she pulled away, tears shone in her eyes, and she hastily brushed them away.
Unlike Dad, she looked younger
than when I’d seen her last. Her auburn hair was longer and fell to her shoulders, and her eyes seemed brighter. She wore elven clothing—a leather tunic with a white peasant’s shirt and a long, sweeping skirt. I’d only ever seen her in name brand Earth clothing. Oddly, the new look suited her.
“What are you doing here?” Mom asked.
“They came to find out about the staff,” Father answered.
“The staff? Well, they’ve found a bit more than that, haven’t they?”
Mom took the baby she had been holding in her arms once again and cradled him to her chest. I stared in confusion at the infant when Father spoke up.
“Olive, this is what I meant to show you. This is why you haven’t heard from your mother and I for so long. We’ve discovered a secret that could bring down the queen if she knew about it.”
I glanced around the room. “Let me guess; it’s got something to do with these children?”
Mom took a step closer. “Yes. It’s got everything to do with them.”
“Do you notice anything odd about these children?” Father asked.
I scanned the baby Mom had in her arms. He seemed young, perhaps only a month old, and had the characteristic pointed elven ears. His two tiny hands were fisted near his face. As he slept, he kept his heart-shaped lips parted and made soft sighing sounds. An odd emotion came over me, something akin to a feeling of longing. I’d never exactly contemplated becoming a mother, but I supposed many women dealt with the emotion from time to time. It occurred to me then that someday, I wanted children.
At that thought, another emotion followed. Fear. If parenthood ever did happen, how would I raise a child with the crazy scary life I lived?
I pushed my thoughts aside in order to think logically. Obviously, there was something special about this baby. But what? He looked like an ordinary elven baby. I couldn’t find anything unusual. I had supposed that he must have been infected with some sort of virus or been born carrying deadly pathogens, but as I stretched my magical senses to encompass the baby, nothing stood out. I even used my elven hearing to listen to his heartbeat, but that sounded normal as well.
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