by Logan Byrne
“Somebody didn’t want to, now did he?” I asked sternly.
“I know, I deserve it. Let’s just eat and get to bed. The sooner we wake up, the sooner we can leave here and get this mission over with already. I want to go back to Britta,” he said.
“Missing her, I take it?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s hard being away from her for so long. I don’t know how you and Blake do it,” he said.
“Well, it’s not like we have a choice, you know,” I said, laughing.
“I guess so, but still, I commend you both for looking past it and continuing on. You must really love one another,” he said.
“Yeah, we do. It’s nice, having him there, even if I’m not always with him. Soon enough, though. We’ll get Kiren out of power and then I can be with him all the time,” I replied with a smile.
I pulled out two of the ready meals that the mess tent had prepared for us, using my wand to hydrate them and bring them back to life, as the mashed potatoes grew in fluffiness and gravy filled the well as if we’d struck oil. “I love magic,” Charlie said, before stuffing his face.
“I think we need to come up with a plan for tomorrow,” I said, as bits of mashed potatoes fell out of Charlie’s mouth.
“What’s there to plan? We’re going to take a trip out to the lake, get the crystal, and then get the hell out of there,” he said, licking his fingers clean of gravy.
“They said there were harpies there, a lot of them, and that we needed to take caution. They’ll attack us, Charlie, and then what? Do you think we can take on a nest of a hundred or more harpies on our own? Even with Blake and Britta, we couldn’t take them all. Their talons are as sharp as razors,” I said.
“We’ll use your Obscurio spell, get close, and they’ll never even see us. Even with their bird vision, which by the way isn’t as good as my feline eyes, they’ll never be able to see through your spell. We get the thing, you teleport us back to the camp, and everybody goes on with their day,” he said nonchalantly, as if he’d played this through his head already.
“I just don’t think it will be that easy. What if the crystal is under the water?” I asked.
“Cats can swim, even if we don’t like to,” he said.
“Charlie, did you not pay attention at all?” I asked, exasperated. “The water, if you could call it that, is toxic. It’s filled with salt and it’s red. The fumes alone will knock us out the closer we get. You can’t let it touch you or it will hurt you.”
“Hey, if those stupid birds can be near it, we can too. I think we just have to figure it out as we go along. There’s no planning any of this, Lexa. We don’t even have any information on it. All we have are some tales from two old men in a pub in the middle of the desert. It’s not like we can fact-check their sources or anything,” he said, shrugging.
Even if he didn’t care about it all, I did. This was more to me than just some little job. This was an extra hundred and fifty gold coins. That amount of money would change my life, and Charlie didn’t have that added pressure because he wasn’t as concerned. He had a job, and a life, but I didn’t anymore.
Not only that, but even if we pushed that concern aside, there were at least a hundred harpies who were going to be awfully pissed that we were there. What would happen when a swarm of them swooped down and started to peck and rip our eyes out? Charlie wouldn’t be so nonchalant then.
“Just promise me we’ll stick together,” I said, before taking my first bite of food.
“Of course, I promise. I have no intentions of ever leaving you or abandoning you or anything unless you need me to. Besides, I think your mark will find the crystal long before our eyes ever do,” he said.
“What? Why would it do that?” I asked.
“Think about it, didn’t Merlin want this crystal for something? What if your mark, which after all is connected to him, helps you find it? What if it hasn’t been found because nobody with the mark has ever gotten close enough to try?” he asked.
“That’s a good point, but I just don’t think it’s going to help me at all. Maybe if this item was tied to Merlin, but it isn’t. Pote said he tried to find it but never could,” I said.
“Well, whatever the case, tomorrow is going to be our make-or-break day. If we get out there and search all day and can’t find it, I think we’re going to have to call it a day,” he said.
“And give up?” I asked.
“I can’t stay out here forever, and besides, a full day is long enough to look around a lake. If it’s not there, then it’s not there, and we’ll have to start at square one. Maybe those guys in the pub weren’t telling the truth, either intentionally or not. Maybe it’s just that: a myth,” he said, lying back on his mattress as some pieces of straw fell out under the pressure.
I finished up my meal, my stomach finally feeling full after a day of feeling like it was eating itself, before I got up and walked to the window. It was out there, I knew it was, and I was going to be the first one to find it, especially before Kiren could get his hands on it. I just knew it.
5
“And how was your stay, my darlings?” the innkeeper asked as Charlie and I checked out the next morning.
“It was good,” I said, lying through my teeth. The sound of gnawing rats in the walls had kept Charlie and I awake most of the night. “We do need to ask if you know any way we can get to Lake Natron.”
“Lake Natron, you say? Why would you ever want to go there?” she asked, eyeing us up.
“We’re searching for something,” Charlie said.
“You mean the Oxinora,” she said, before sliding over a paper for us to sign to check out.
“So you’ve heard of it?” I asked, perking up.
“Child, it’s said the Oxinora can stop death itself, banishing it to the depths of darkness as one lives eternally without disease of any kind. The power one must possess to even find it would be immeasurable. Beware the harpies, though, they do not take kindly to visitors,” she said, smiling.
“What can you tell us about them?” I asked.
“I’ve known eight travelers, hunters just like yourself, who have all gone in search of this mythical item,” she said.
“And?” I asked.
“They all perished at the hands of the harpies. They do not take kindly to anybody, no matter their status or power. I hope you have some good magic to get past them. If that doesn’t deter you, and you still want to face your deaths today, I know a way to get there. It isn’t cheap, but it’s the only way,” she said.
“We’ll do it, whatever it is,” I said.
“How much will it be?” Charlie asked.
“Fifty silver for the two of you to go. You will go by helicopter, but beware, he won’t get close to the ground,” she said.
“Well, how do we get to the lake then?” I asked.
“You must jump out, and hope the noxious fumes of the lake don’t spoil your journey down. If you’re sure, I’ll make the call,” she said, her fingers tapping on her old red rotary telephone.
“We’re sure. Make the call,” I said, nodding.
“Lexa,” Charlie whispered, pulling me off to the side. “Isn’t that all the money we were given? What if it doesn’t work out?”
“We don’t have any other way there, you heard the woman. Besides, you wanted to leave after today anyway, so why would we need more money?” I asked.
“I guess you’re right, but still, I don’t necessarily like the idea of what we’re getting ourselves into,” he said, before breathing in heavily through his nose. “I just hope this is worth it.”
“It will be, Charlie, it will be,” I said, patting his back.
“Okay, the call is made, and they’ll be here shortly to escort you to the helicopter. It’s a shame,” she said, looking us over.
“What is?” I asked.
“That two such beautiful gifted beings such as yourselves are going to die,” she said, shaking her head and walking into her back room.
&nb
sp; “Yeah, a shame,” Charlie mumbled, before walking to a bench and sitting down.
Half an hour passed before a smiling man walked in the front door of the motel. “Are you the two seeking safe passage to Lake Natron?” he asked.
“Yes, are you able to take us?” I asked.
“Yes, but the journey won’t be easy, I can assure you of that, and you’ll need to sort yourselves getting out. Do you have a way out, assuming the harpies don’t kill you?” he asked.
“Yes, it’s taken care of,” I said.
“I require the fifty silver coins up front before I can take you,” he said. I shuffled through my pack, pulling out the last of the money Pote had given us, before handing it over to him. “Excellent,” he said, shaking the coins around in his hand. “Come.”
We followed him out of the motel into the streets of Nairobi. We walked for fifteen or twenty minutes, before he pointed to a small helipad surrounded by a metal fence made up of over a hundred different pieces of scrap metal. Barbed wire swirled around the top, some of the barbs cut off or missing. He unlocked the sliding door and we walked inside.
“I just need to get her started and we can leave. Do you require parachutes? It will be another twenty silver,” he said.
“We need to buy parachutes?” Charlie asked, shocked.
“Well, I can’t give them for free, you know. The fifty silver covers me risking my life and helicopter to get you to the most dangerous area of the land. I’d much rather drive through a guerilla-occupied town than fly into this lake,” he said.
“We’ll make do, I’m a witch. I can get us down,” I said, and Charlie rolled his eyes. “It’ll be fine,” I said to him, trying to ease his tension.
“Okay, you can get inside, and we’ll leave shortly,” the man said, before opening the sliding door. The helicopter wasn’t much, but it was in better shape than the rinky-dink plane we’d gotten to Nairobi in. The man climbed in the front seat, going over his gauges and numbers with a paper and clipboard, which did make both Charlie and I feel a little more at ease. The gnome had just booked it after we all buckled up.
“How close will we be getting?” I asked, as he turned on the engines and the propeller started to pick up speed above us.
“It will depend on the harpies’ activity today. The sun is out, so they might be more active. I’ll try to get you as close as I can, but I make no promises,” he said, before pulling back on the joystick. The ascent was a little wobbly, but the man quickly stabilized the helicopter, and we took off for the lake.
The city was quickly left behind, the scenes of open African land the only thing in view. I saw a herd of wildebeest running below as a massive dust cloud formed behind their bustling hooves. It was amazing, as if we were on a private aerial safari. I’d ever seen these types of animals before except in a book or on a screen.
“Are we getting close?” I asked, forty minutes into the flight.
“We’re just about there, another few minutes and we’ll be in range,” the pilot said.
“How are the conditions? The harpies, that is?” Charlie asked.
“I see some in the distance, it isn’t great,” he said, confirming our worst fears.
“How are we going to do this?” Charlie asked, as he peered out the window.
“I’ll Levio us down to the ground, but I might need to Obscurio us before we even hop out of here. We’ll be falling slowly, so if we aren’t invisible then we might be easy targets for them, especially if they’re out and active,” I said.
“And you’re sure you can pull this off?” he asked.
“I’m positive. Have faith in me at least a little bit,” I said, smiling and nudging him.
“Live together and die together. Partners,” he said, and my heart suddenly warmed with love. If Charlie was anything, he was my brother, and I knew I could count on him to make me smile.
“Okay, get ready, dropping in thirty seconds,” the man said, and Charlie rolled open the sliding door.
The fumes hit me immediately, and I turned my head to cough a little as the smell of rotten eggs and gas filled my lungs. “Ten seconds,” the man said.
“Lexa, do the thing,” Charlie said, grabbing onto me.
“Levio Maximus,” I said, swirling my wand around us.
“Go!” the pilot said, and Charlie pulled us both out.
“Obscurio,” I incanted, and our bodies were instantly wrapped in a thin, sheer veil of magic that blended us in with the surrounding air. We began to float down, Charlie’s arms locked tightly around me. We saw at least ten harpies flying around, not paying attention to us.
“They don’t know we’re here,” Charlie whispered, as softly as he could.
“And they won’t, I promise,” I whispered back.
“Look at the lake, it’s amazing,” Charlie said, and I looked down for the first time, having forgotten at first about the lake, as focused as I was on surviving the harpies.
“It’s like they said, as red as blood,” I whispered, the magnitude of the lake taking my breath away, and not just because it was toxic.
It was massive, far larger than Charlie or I had imagined, and the eastern side, which we were approaching, was a deep blood red. I’d never seen water that wasn’t blue. A flock of flamingoes gathered not too far away on the shore. I looked back up, leaving my vision of the lake behind.
“Lexa,” Charlie whispered, sounding scared.
A harpy was coming straight towards us. I clenched my teeth, holding my spells strong, before it flew past us, our weightless bodies swirling around like we were on a ride at an amusement park. The harpy didn’t even sense us. “It was just flying,” Charlie said, relaxing.
“That was a little too close,” I said. After falling for four minutes, we touched down on the ground, and the salt from the lake instantly caked on my shoes. “Move back,” I whispered, getting a little further back from the shore.
It was magnificent—there was a cliff above us, the harpies flying in and out without a care for who or what saw them. “Their nest must be inside the cliff,” Charlie said, as we both looked up.
“You don’t think?” I asked.
“That the crystal is in there? No, I don’t, and I’m not just saying that because I don’t want to look,” he said.
“I do feel something,” I said.
“What is it, the mark?” he asked.
“I—I don’t know,” I said, trying to make sense of the fuzzy feeling inside me. It was strange, not like anything I’d felt before—a bit of a nervous feeling, mixed with a sixth sense, as if something was watching me. I looked around, seeing nothing near us but the harpies, as I tried to tell where the thing was watching me from.
I didn’t know.
“I think it’s out there,” Charlie said, nudging towards the lake.
“We can’t go into the water, that’s crucial,” I said.
“Don’t you have a spell to walk on water or part it or something?” he asked.
“Do you think I’m Moses?” I mumbled, before pulling out the small spell book I’d brought along.
I looked up, my eyebrows furled, as Charlie watched me intently. “What’s the matter? Is someone here?” he asked.
“I think it’s calling me, that’s the only way I can explain it. This wasn’t happening before,” I said, as my eyes were drawn towards the center of the lake.
“We need to get out there and get it before they catch wind of us. That Obscurio can’t last forever,” he said.
“Sure it can,” I said, focusing back on my spell book. I flipped through, looking for anything relating to water. I could create water, freeze it, vaporize it, but there was nothing here about moving or parting it in any way. That was what I got for bringing a book so small.
“What about that?” Charlie asked, pointing to the freezing spell.
“Will this even freeze?” I asked, thinking of the saline content in the lake.
“It’s better than us just standing here huddled up,” he s
aid. “At least try it.”
I pulled out my wand, letting Charlie hold onto the book, before I cleared my throat. “Glacio,” I said, pointing the tip of my wand at the edge of the lake. It began to freeze, although it struggled, as fragments of ice tried to fuse together to fight the caustic red water.
“Give it more strength,” Charlie whispered, before looking up at the soaring harpies. “They still don’t know we’re here.”
“Glacio Maximus,” I said, and the ice crystallized quicker. It was red, the color of the water. Charlie and I walked cautiously over, tapping it, before testing our weight on it. “I think it will hold.”
I kept the spell up, incanting it over and over, as the surface of the ice gained strength, even under the harsh African sun. “I think they notice something happening,” Charlie whispered, when we’d gotten about ten feet out from the shore.
I looked up at the harpies circling our area, staring down as they tried to make sense of the freezing water. “God, do you smell that?” I asked, before I looked down at the ice. The sulfuric water was bubbling through, burning small holes through the ice, as the gases were quickly expelled upwards into our mouths. “We have to get out of here,” I said, coughing.
We shuffled our feet, the ice beginning to crack under our weight, as I coughed so much I couldn’t keep the spell up any longer.
“Lexa,” Charlie said, grabbing onto me, before we hit land and I fell to my knees. As quickly as I did, our Obscurio faded, exposing us to the angry harpies above.
One let out a shrill, terrifying screech, and the entire flock of them responded. The air sounded like it was filled with tornado sirens. Tears filling my eyes, I tried to catch my breath as Charlie shifted and began to growl. “We need to get out of here, Lexa. It didn’t work. Teleport us back.”
“No, we can’t,” I said, before spitting off to the side. “We have to get it, we need it.”
“Lexa!” Charlie yelled as the harpies swooped down. With my wand in hand, I tried to fire off some bolts as Charlie swiped at the fearless harpies. They swung their talons at us, their bird-woman bodies and blackened eyes sending shivers down my spine. I hit one in the wing, knocking off some feathers, before it slowly retreated towards the nest. More spewed out from the cliff, blackening the sky above us.