The Changlings (The New Earth Chronicles Book 2)

by J. J. Thompson

  “Order and Chaos. Okay, I understand,” Sarah said attentively.

  “Excellent. You may also call them Good and Evil if you prefer. Or representing Light and Darkness. It all means the same thing in the end. Inevitably, the lords of Chaos came to understand that they would never achieve their goals and take complete control of all of creation with their brethren actively working against them, trying to mitigate their selfish meddling. And so the eternal war between Good and Evil began.”

  Sarah was caught up in Esmiralla's story and listened wide-eyed as the woman spoke.

  “So that's how it all started,” she said softly.

  The woman smiled at her.

  “Yes child, that it how it all began. The Earth, unfortunately, ended up becoming the focal point of the guardians' war, eons ago. I've never known why. The Dark ones created the evil dragons as their tools to take control of this world. To counter them, the lords of Light brought the good dragons into being. And the dragons, by their very presence, introduced magic into the world.”

  “Wow,” Sarah whispered. “That's where the magic came from? Amazing.”

  “Exactly. So now you know why the power faded away five years ago, when Simon O'Toole killed the last of the primal dragons and their queen and banished the entire race. Without the dragons, the magic was not renewed and it dissipated quickly.”

  “But...but it's back now,” Sarah said, confused. “How is that possible?”

  Esmiralla's expression became very grave.

  “The power has returned because the dragons have brought it back with them. Yes child, the race has been reborn. Aided, ironically enough, by the very same person who did his best to destroy them in the first place.”

  Sarah gasped and covered her mouth in shock.

  “Simon? Simon did this?”

  “Well, not directly. But let us say that he allowed it to happen. However, that tale will have to wait for another day. For now, I must focus on you, young lady, and on what the future holds for you and your kind.”

  Too much information too fast, Sarah thought, feeling dazed. But she tried to focus on what the woman was saying. She had a feeling that it would be important.

  “Your friend, the shaman, believes that the goblins who have invaded your territory have done so because they need to expand, due to population pressures and other factors, is that correct?”

  “Yes ma'am, although I don't understand how you could know that.”

  Esmiralla smiled again.

  “I have my ways,” she said cryptically. “But they are unimportant right now. What is important is that his theory is essentially correct. The goblins still hate water, of course, and cannot abide sunlight for any length of time, but they breed like rabbits and must spread out. And so they have sent an advanced force to the north to secure this part of the country for their people.”

  She leaned forward and her platinum tresses fell down like curtains on either side of her face.

  “Your people will not survive this,” she said forcefully. “Do you understand? The goblins that have come have mages and also, unfortunately, a wizard with them, and they know that you are all here, in this city. They will find you in time, and you are too few and too weak to fight them.”

  Sarah gasped at the information Esmiralla was passing on to her. The Changlings were doomed? No, that couldn't be true. It wasn't possible.

  “I can see by your face that you do not believe me,” the woman told her. “And that is your right. But I speak the truth. It is up to you to act upon that truth, or not. Your city is already lost, young one, and unless you can convince your friends that they should leave, you are all going to die.”

  “But...”

  Sarah didn't know what else to say. She was overwhelmed by what Esmiralla was telling her and she wasn't at all certain that this was anything more than a bad dream.

  The woman stood up gracefully, towering over Sarah.

  “There is no way to convince you of the truth of my words. And perhaps you do not believe that this is even a real meeting, hmm? So, allow me to give you something, some small piece of evidence that will confirm the fact that I was really here and that we truly spoke to one another.”

  “Um, okay.”

  “When you awaken, look around your living quarters and see if you can find something that's changed.”

  Sarah stared up at Esmiralla in confusion.

  “Changed? Changed how?”

  “You'll see. I may not be able to meet with you physically at the moment, but there are things that I can do even at great distances. If you do find something, that will be your proof that this meeting took place.”

  “But lady...”

  “Yes?”

  “Tell me, please. Why me? Why have you contacted me to give your warning? You could have reached any of the others. The older Changlings especially should have been the people that you spoke to.”

  Esmiralla smiled fondly.

  “I could have reached them, yes. But you, child, have a destiny. We will need you one day, so you must survive.”

  “A destiny? What kind...”

  “Sarah, what's wrong?”

  She sat up with a jolt and looked around wildly. Bobby was standing over her, holding a flickering candle. He looked concerned.

  “What?” she asked in confusion.

  “I said, what's wrong? You were crying in your sleep. I could hear you from the living room.”

  “You could?”

  Sarah touched her face and found that it was wet. Bobby was right; she had been crying.

  “That's weird,” she said as she wiped away the tears. “I haven't cried in, I don't know, forever.”

  “I know. And you always sleep so quietly too. Strange.”

  She looked up at him quizzically.

  “Why are you up?”

  “Why? Because I slept all night, that's why. So did you.”

  Sarah slipped out of her sleeping bag and stood up. She stretched and yawned, blinking several times before she was able to focus on Bobby's face.

  “You're up before me? Wow, that's new.”

  He grinned and walked over to light a candle on the bureau off of the one that he was holding. He seemed to ignore the fact that he was just wearing shorts and that Sarah wasn't wearing much more than that.

  “You must have been really tired from all that walking yesterday, plus the effort of making those communication stones,” Bobby told her.

  “Yeah, maybe that's it. You know, I had the weirdest dream last night. Really strange.”

  “Did you? What was it about?”

  She took the candlestick from him with a smile.

  “I'll tell you after I use the bathroom.”

  “Cool. I opened a can of ham for breakfast. We can split it.”

  “Okay. Just make sure that it hasn't gone bad first. We have too much to do today to spend it throwing up.”

  She walked toward the bathroom and heard Bobby grumble as he left in the other direction.

  “I always check the food,” he muttered.

  Sarah just chuckled and went to do her business.

  After she washed up quickly, Sarah searched through her chest of drawers. She hadn't collected a lot of clothes over the years, mainly because all that she had worn were layers of random, shapeless cloth. But she had picked up a few articles of clothing and she poked through them. The idea of wearing her rags for even a moment longer was distasteful to her now and she wondered if she had anything that she could wear until she found more clothes later that day.

  She was in luck. She found a pair of jeans stuffed into the back of a bottom drawer and a bright green sweatshirt rolled into a tight ball next to it. They would do the trick.

  When she walked into the living room, Sarah found that Bobby had sliced up the canned ham and had opened a couple of bottles of iced tea. She smiled at his expression when she saw him notice how she was dressed.

  “Wow, look at you!” he exclaimed through a mouthful of food. “
You actually look like a real girl.”

  “Hmm. I'll take that as a compliment. I think.”

  She sat down next to him and accepted a plate with her half of the ham on it.

  “Thanks.”

  Bobby swallowed quickly.

  “Sorry, that came out wrong. I meant that you look great. Honest.”

  “I know, Bobby. I was just teasing you. We will have to pick up a few things today, though; maybe on our way back from visiting all of the camps to give each of them an enchanted stone.”

  “Good idea. I want some jeans too. These rags are just...ugh.”

  Sarah laughed as she watched him look down at himself with disgust.

  “It's not that bad,” she reassured him. “I mean, we've been dressing like that for ten years. I'm actually amazed at how quickly both of us have grown sick of them.”

  “I'm not,” Bobby replied thickly as he ate another slice of ham. “Once my head was bare, the rest just seemed ridiculous. I'm done with it. But I'm going to need more than this one shirt that I got from Magnus.”

  “Great. Then let's finish eating and get on the road. We've at least got all day to travel without worrying about the goblins.”

  Bobby gave her a skeptical look.

  “Don't forget that they might have been laying traps for us all night. We don't know. We'll have to be careful out there.”

  “I haven't forgotten,” Sarah assured him. “We'll stay alert for any dark magic. It'll help you strengthen your talent too, if you keep trying to sense any traps.”

  “If you say so. I'm still a bit skeptical about my even being able to use magic.”

  Sarah finished eating and frowned at him.

  “You can use it, Bobby. Magnus thinks so and I think so. And you should too. Belief in your abilities is essential if you are going to tap into your talents. So put away the doubts and have a little faith, hmm?”

  “Yes ma'am,” he replied with a grin. “If you say so.”

  Bobby stood up and took her empty plate.

  “I'll clean these while I'm getting washed up. Won't be long.”

  “Thanks.”

  He walked past the fireplace and glanced up at the painting.

  “Good morning, old man,” Bobby said merrily. “And how are you to...”

  There was a loud crash of breaking plates and he jumped back from the mantelpiece with a shout.

  Sarah had been collecting her enchanted stones from the coffee table. She sat up with a jerk and looked over at him in alarm.

  “What's the matter?” she asked, startled. “What happened?”

  Bobby was staring up at the painting with wide eyes.

  “I don't know,” he replied in a strangled voice. “But I think someone kidnapped the old man.”

  “What?”

  Sarah couldn't see the painting very well from where she was sitting. There were only a few lit candles on the coffee table and none of the ones on top of the mantel were burning. She got up quickly and hurried over to stand next Bobby, pulling out her glowing stone as she went.

  She held it up and stared at the picture, and she nearly dropped the stone in surprise the way that Bobby had dropped the plates.

  The old man was gone. In his place, there was an intricate and beautiful painting of a woman. She was dressed all in white and her lustrous silver hair flowed down over her shoulders to cover her chest. She was sitting on a plain, wooden chair and her hands were clasped together on her lap, their thick, pointed nails sparkling like metal. Even in the weak light of the glowing stone, her blue eyes gleamed with seeming intelligence as they stared out of the painting directly at the two observers.

  “It's her,” Sarah whispered. “The woman from my dream. My God, she said she was going to leave me a sign that the dream was real and she has. Esmiralla.”

  Bobby looked from Sarah to the painting and back again.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked. “You mean that you actually dreamt about her?”

  He pointed at the painting as he spoke.

  “I did. That's the weird dream I mentioned. It was actually fading a bit from my memory, until now. But how did she do this? How do you change a painting so completely, and from a distance? Esmiralla said that she was far away, which is why she spoke to me in my sleep. This should not be possible.'

  “Magic,” Bobby said simply. “And powerful magic at that. She must be a great mage, maybe even a wizard!”

  Sarah shook her head doubtfully.

  “I don't think so,” she told him. “The way she spoke gave me the impression that she wasn't even human.”

  “Not human?”

  Bobby laughed as he walked across the room to the storage closet and came back with a broom.

  “What is she then, a goblin? An elf? She certainly isn't a dwarf! I mean, look at her. She's gorgeous.”

  “No argument here. I don't know what she is, Bobby. But she's obviously powerful, whoever or whatever she is. Here, give me the broom and go and wash up. I'll tell you all about the dream as we travel. We have a lot to do today and time won't wait.”

  Chapter 10

  Whether because they were lucky, or because the goblins hadn't infiltrated deeply enough into the city yet, neither Sarah nor Bobby sensed any traps as they made their way to the surface and emerged into the morning sunlight. Both of them were delighted that it was another beautiful day. Spring had been especially wet and miserable and it seemed like Mother Nature was trying to make up for it by giving them a perfect summer, at least so far.

  Once above ground, Sarah began telling Bobby about her dream as they headed south. They had decided to retrace their route from the previous day, starting with Eric's group and finishing up at Magnus' cave. And this time, they were both rested and eager to go.

  “So this Esmiralla person said that we need to leave the city? Just like that?” he asked in disbelief as they climbed over a high mound covered in moss and thin stalks of grass.

  “Yep. She said that Magnus was right, that the goblins are expanding into our territory and that they would kill all of us. She also said that they have a wizard with them.”

  Sarah descended the mound, watching her feet on the uneven ground and extending her magical senses as she went. Bobby followed and tried to do the same.

  “A wizard? Crap. That means we're screwed,” he exclaimed. “Someone that powerful will find us eventually, you do know that, right?”

  “Yes, Bobby, I know,” Sarah replied with a touch of sarcasm. “Listen, I was already half convinced when Magnus warned us about the goblins and why they might be here that we might be forced to leave eventually.”

  She reached level ground and stopped to wait for him.

  “Frankly, as much as Ottawa is my home and I love the city, I won't have a problem leaving if it means getting away from those damned goblins. I don't have a death wish and I don't think you do either.”

  He stared at her doubtfully, wisps of hair blowing across his face and over his sunglasses.

  “I don't want to die,” he admitted. “And I trust your instincts. But convincing the others? Well, some of them might believe you, but I doubt that most of them will.”

  Sarah nodded and turned away, taking the lead again.

  “I know that. But I am not their leader or their boss. All that I can do is tell them what I believe and let them make up their own minds.”

  She glanced back at him.

  “I sure am going to miss the ones who decide to stay though.”

  Bobby felt his stomach clench tightly as he realized that Sarah had already made up her mind. She was going to leave, regardless of who else was going to go with her.

  Well, I know at least one person who won't desert her, he thought stoutly. And that's me. Where Sarah goes, I go, no matter what.

  They found one trap cleverly hidden on a path near the center of the city. Sarah sensed it first, but Bobby was quick to discover it as well.

  Both of them stopped abruptly at almost the same time.
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  “Something's here,” Bobby exclaimed, his eyes darting from side to side.

  “Yep, you're right. Good for you for sensing it,” Sarah said with approval.

  “A trap?”

  “Oh yes. Can you tell where it is?”

  He closed his eyes, hearing an inaudible hum in his mind, a grating, discordant sound that was very unpleasant.

  “There,” he said, pointing in the direction that the silent vibration seemed strongest.

  Bobby looked at where he was pointing and frowned. All that he could see was a twisted and faded old street sign that faintly spelled out STOP.

  “The sign?” he asked in surprise.

  “The sign,” Sarah agreed. “Smart little weasels, aren't they? Now, how do we mark it so that no one will get close enough to set off the spell?”

  Bobby searched the ground and picked up a couple of handfuls of small stones.

  “I'll leave our symbol on the path,” he said as he squatted down to place the rocks. “I doubt that the goblins know what it looks like. And I'll put a small arrow under it pointing at the sign.”

  He looked up at her.

  “Unless you know a way to disarm it?”

  “Not a clue, I'm afraid. I wish I could, though. Signs can get washed away or destroyed by the goblins. They aren't permanent.”

  “Best we can do. And the others are staying alert for traps too, so they should be fine.”

  “I hope so.”

  After leaving the warning sign, the pair set off again. Two hours later they reached the edge of what was left of the Rideau River. It was still early and Sarah was pleased with their progress.

  “We'll be back at Magnus' place long before sundown at this rate,” she told Bobby.

  “Yeah, that's great. Nice not to have to rush to get under cover before it gets dark. Do you think that he'll let us stay over?”