“Dry?” I asked. “How does that work?”
“No clue,” Layla said. “But I never get wet going back through the gate. Coming through on this side? That’s another story.”
“See?” I said, scratching Agnus behind the ears while Layla held him. “You won’t even get wet.”
“You weren’t listening!” Agnus shouted. “She said we would on the way back.”
I shrugged. “One problem at a time, right?”
Agnus hissed. “I prefer to exercise foresight, and the fortunes tell me if I go through, there will be a bath in my future.”
“You’ll survive,” I said, making eye contact with Layla. I nodded.
She nodded back.
And dove head-first into the gate, clinging to Agnus.
Agnus meowed loudly, but his hissy-fit was muted the second they struck the water.
Brag’mok followed, making a much larger splash.
I’d never been much for cliff-jumping. I didn’t like heights.
But the flying I’d done lately seemed to have helped me conquer that fear.
I jumped, tucked my legs, and cannonballed my way into the portal.
Chapter Forty
Layla had been right. After falling through the gateway, I found myself on dry ground.
It was dark. Layla put Agnus in my arms.
He was surprisingly quiet. I’d expected he’d be bitching about the trip. I think he was in a mild state of shock, but he’d made it through okay.
With my cat in my arms and her hands free, Layla channeled light from her fingers. The gateway illuminated the cave a little, but with her spell, we could make out the path ahead.
From what I could see, the cave was fairly dull. No stalactites or stalagmites. Nothing remarkable, just a hole. Layla had said it was on the top of a mountain.
I followed Layla and Brag’mok through the cave until light was visible at the opposite end of one of the caverns.
Layla released her spell. Given the literal light at the end of the tunnel, we didn’t need it anymore.
I followed my friends through the corridor and stepped into the light.
I was underwhelmed. I’d imagined an exotic place, something like Pandora from Avatar.
However, knowing that the place was barely habitable apart from magic, I shouldn’t have been shocked to find that it more closely resembled the photographs I’d seen of Mars. There was evidence that plant life had thrived here before the magic that had sustained the place had faltered.
Now, as I emerged from the cave atop a mountain and looked down on the planet, it was nothing but miles of reddish-brown sandy soil and death as far as the eye could see.
Dead trees, most of them standing but barren of foliage. Dead grasses ground into the soil. Withered bushes.
And it was quiet except for a slight breeze, unusually warm, that whistled around us.
I could imagine that when the planet had been invigorated by Earth magic, the place had been a sight to behold. Now it was desolate and depressing.
“This is your home?” I asked.
Layla nodded. “Nothing like it used to be. Not like I remember it being when I was a girl.”
I looked up at the sky.
The sun here was bluer than the one that warmed the Earth. From the little I knew of astronomy, that meant it was a younger star.
It also cast a slightly different hue over the world than the yellow light that warmed the Earth. Layla’s skin, I noticed, looked a little gray under New Albion’s sun. I probably looked the same since my skin tone wasn’t much darker than hers.
“What a shithole!” Agnus exclaimed.
I laughed. “Be nice, Agnus.”
“He’s right,” Brag’mok said. “It is a shithole now. Wasn’t always.”
“You’d be shocked if you had seen how beautiful this place was back when magic still vivified it.”
I nodded as I checked my pocket to be sure the ring hadn’t fallen out in the portal. It was still there. “Well, hopefully, we can fix that soon.”
“I’ll be right behind you,” Brag’mok said, pressing his finger to his ear. “Just checking with my contacts here to make sure nothing is going on that might take us by surprise.”
I nodded. “Well, I don’t think we’re going to get too far ahead of you regardless.”
The hike down the mountain was arduous.
The air was thin, hot, and dry.
If I’d known it was going to be this way, I’d have brought water.
“How far are we from where we need to drop this ring?” I asked.
“Not far,” Layla said. “The gate always takes us to the cave. The actual ley line, though, is deep in the mountain. You can’t access it except from a river that used to run around it.”
“Used to?” I asked.
“It dried up,” Brag’mok said, having caught up with us from behind. “This whole place dried up. The cave used to flow with water drawn from Earth. Over time, the cave formed, and the water from your rivers flowed from the mountain into the valley below.”
“Our muddy river water?” I asked.
“It was filtered,” Layla said. “All the impurities lost in the portal.”
“So, does it purge impurities from our bodies, too?” I asked. “I mean, I’ve heard of detox.”
“It would,” Layla said. “If magic was still here. The magic here drew water through the gate to nourish the land all around, but there’s not enough magic left. Even with the gate open again, until the ley lines are recharged, no water will flow through.”
“And we can’t just travel the ley lines from the gate to where we need to go like I did on Earth?”
“That won’t work,” Brag’mok said. “Not as long as the ley lines are devoid of magic. We have to take your ring to something like your spring.”
“Any news?” I asked.
“Huh?” Brag’mok asked.
“You were using your earpiece. Checking in,” I said.
Brag’mok paused for a moment. “Nothing that will impact our plans at this juncture. We just need to hurry.”
“There’s a valley about a mile from here,” Layla said. “Not far at all. In it, there’s a deep pit. That was where the ancient druid brought the Blade of Echoes to invest our world with magic.”
“A mile doesn’t sound bad, except that we’re on top of a mountain and have to climb down the rest of the way.”
“Right,” Brag’mok said. “When she says a mile, that distance starts from the base of the mountain.”
“With nothing to drink,” I quipped.
Brag’mok reached into his pocket and retrieved a flask. “You’re welcome to a sip.”
I shook my head. “I don’t do alcohol.”
Brag’mok extended it to me again. “I know. This isn’t alcohol.”
I took a sip. “It tastes like…is this Sunny Delight?”
“I can’t get enough of it!” Brag’mok said. “It’s the nectar of the gods!”
I chuckled. “I don’t think there’s any real juice in it. Mostly water, sugar, and artificially produced vitamins.”
“Whatever,” Brag’mok said. “If you don’t want any…”
“No,” I said. “I appreciate it.”
“Have as much as you like,” Brag’mok said. “I have three more flasks full.”
I laughed. “Thanks. I’m glad at least one of us was prepared.”
“Once we recharge the ley lines,” Brag’mok said, “I will be leaving you.”
“We could use your help to get back,” I said.
Brag’mok nodded. “I must retrieve my brother’s body. He must be properly laid to rest. ”
“I understand,” I said. “Thank you for your help so far.”
“It has been an honor,” Brag’mok said, “to aid the chosen vessel of the prophecy.”
Chapter Forty-One
Despite trekking through a desolate wasteland, I felt oddly invigorated. Either the fairy magic I’d accessed via Ensley to g
et here or Brag’mok’s Sunny Delight was to blame.
I hoped for the former rather than the latter. A sugar high would lead to an inevitable crash, and I needed to preserve my energy for the trek back to the gate.
After all, once we’d recharged the ley lines, it would only be a matter of time before the elves would know what happened. He’d have his legions on us in no time, with more than whatever magic they’d hoarded for themselves via B’iff’s corpse. A recharged planet gave them a second chance, but it was one they were likely to squander on more war. If they caught me here, not to mention Layla, there’d be nothing better to confirm King Brightborn’s defiance of the prophecy than to have the chosen one’s head on the end of a spear, or on a platter, or however elf kings liked to display severed craniums.
My preference was to keep my head firmly affixed to my shoulders.
Were my feet already blistering? This wasn’t a long walk, but the hike down the mountain was more challenging than you’d think. While going up hills is hard, the trek down was so steep that it took a lot of strength to make sure I didn’t fall and end up sliding the rest of the way on my ass.
Might have been more fun, but the heat radiating off the dirt would probably have chapped my hiney.
My feet were burning too, both from the work of trekking down the mountain and the heat of the ground.
One mile was like thirty when it was that hot, and the warm breeze I had felt on the mountain seemed more like a sandstorm when we were on the ground.
Nothing like sun-scorched sand striking your face.
“This sucks the balls I don’t have,” Agnus complained.
“I agree,” I said. “I mean, not that I’d know what sucking those is like.”
“In your dreams, Casp. In your dreams.”
“My dreams?” I asked. “As if it isn’t your dream to have balls again.”
“Let it be known for the record that I hold you responsible for my lack of testicles.”
“I accept that responsibility,” I said.
“Can you give me back to Layla?” Agnus asked.
“Why? Don’t tell me you’re holding a grudge now that we brought up the subject of your neutering.”
“It’s the smell of the fairy. It gets stronger every second.”
Stronger? Ensley asked. I don’t think it’s me he’s smelling.
“Hey, Layla, Brag’mok, there might be other fairies around,” I said. “Agnus smells something.”
Layla nocked an arrow. A precautionary measure, perhaps, but I was glad she was on top of things.
“I don’t see any other fairies,” Brag’mok said. “Let’s keep going.”
Doesn’t mean they aren’t here, Ensley said.
“Just keep an eye out,” I said. “Ensley thinks there might be some hiding.”
“We’re almost there,” Brag’mok said. “Hopefully, if there are any lurking around here, we’ll accomplish what needs to be done before it becomes an issue.”
I nodded. “I don’t see anything up ahead. It’s just red sand as far as I can see.”
“It’s there,” Layla said. “I can’t draw enough magic here to do it, but if you and Ensley can do something, maybe create some wind blowing the other way? There’s a well up ahead, but I’m guessing it’s covered in sand.”
“A well?” I asked. “The source is accessed through a well?”
“No one ever had to use it,” Layla said. “It’s considered a holy site.”
“Because the ancient druid dug a well to charge the ley lines here?” I asked.
“Exactly,” Layla said. “It should be around here, just covered up. Can you and Ensley blow the sand around?”
“Can you, Ensley?” I asked.
Can I? What sort of question is that? Open your mouth, human.
I cocked my head. Open my mouth? Really? This was going to be interesting.
I opened my mouth as wide as I could.
Now just breathe, then blow.
I inhaled deeply and then exhaled, but the wind kept coming. My eyes glowed at the same time. Apparently, the golden eye wasn’t just a James Bond film. It happened to me every time Ensley cast magic through me.
The wind, pouring out of my mouth, blew harder. It was like I was vomiting a hurricane over the desert.
On the checklist of Superman powers I’d always prayed that God would give me when I was a kid, so far I’d mastered flight, something similar to his heat vision when we’d cast the gate, and super breath? Now I just needed indestructibility. Then again, I’d survived a stab by the Blade of Echoes.
I just kept exhaling. Where was all this wind coming from? I mean, I was a preacher; I was supposed to be full of hot air. A blow-hard, I supposed, but this was on a whole other level.
“There it is!” Brag’mok shouted.
I could hardly see through all the sand, but I also didn’t know what I was looking for. Then Layla pointed at it, and I saw it. Barely.
There was a small circle of stones, old-looking stones well weathered by the centuries. The well was at the center, I supposed.
I stopped exhaling, and the sandstorm I’d created calmed down.
We stepped toward the well and looked inside.
“Do you smell that?” Layla asked.
“See? What have I been telling you!” Agnus interjected.
“No, not that.”
“I was able to draw enough magic before. Maybe I still can.” Layla held her hand over the well, and light began glowing from her fingers again.
I set Agnus down on the ground as I leaned over and looked into the hole. Brag’mok stood beside me.
B’iff’s body, his corpse rotting. That was what we smelled, but the ley line wasn’t charged.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “I thought his body was filled with magic? That he’d become the Blade of Echoes.”
“He had,” Brag’mok said. “But the king used too much of it, and I suspect he thought he’d try to use the rest to charge the lines.”
“My God,” Agnus said. “The smell, not the body. It’s awful.”
“Hello, daughter,” a deep voice said from behind us. We turned, and there stood King Brightborn, except his eyes were aglow with golden magic. Just like mine were when Ensley channeled magic through me.
“Good work, Ensley,” King Brightborn said. “You can leave him now.”
A sharp pain struck me at the base of my neck, and Ensley flew out of the wound. This time, it didn’t heal as easily.
I grasped the gouge in my neck, my blood covering my hand.
“Ensley!” I shouted.
“Sorry, human,” Ensley said. “I wasn’t disowned by my kind. I am the fairy king, and we have an alliance with the elves.”
“You shit!” I screamed.
“Told you so,” Agnus interjected.
“Shut up, Agnus!” Layla and I replied in concert.
“Just saying,” Agnus said. “Should have listened to me from the start.”
“Father,” Layla said, “what have you done?”
“Fucking fairies,” I muttered under my breath.
Brag’mok was breathing heavily behind me. He was even angrier than I was. I turned, and he gripped his hammer tightly. He was going to go after the king.
“You don’t want to do that, orc,” the king said.
The king waved his hand, and in a semi-circle around us appeared two dozen elves, their eyes aglow like the king’s. They were all possessed by fairies and enhanced by the magic they’d taken from B’iff’s body.
“Now, human, why don’t you give me the blade?”
“I don’t have a blade,” I said.
“You brought something to recharge the ley lines.”
“It’s a ring,” Ensley said. “In his front pocket.”
“Don’t give it to him,” Brag’mok said. “He’ll kill you either way.”
I sighed. “Like you said, he’ll kill me either way.”
“Father!” Layla protested. “You’ve seen
that he fulfilled the prophecy! How could you?”
King Brightborn raised his hand. “The prophecy? A prophecy dictated when a man, a druid, united with a fairy? So I have, daughter, and I am rewriting it.”
“You can’t rewrite the prophecy!” Brag’mok said. “We have our own scrolls!”
“Your scrolls mean nothing to me,” King Brightborn told him.
“Now, human, give me the ring, or I’ll have no choice but to take it by force.”
“Casper,” Brag’mok said, “I should have told you sooner, but the sixth seal has broken. Another part of the prophecy has been revealed. Do you trust me?”
I nodded.
“Put the ring on,” Brag’mok said.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Just do it.”
“Now, human!” King Brightborn shouted. “Or I’ll kill you where you stand!”
I took a deep breath, then reached into my pocket and grabbed the ring. I held it in the air.
“This is what you want, Your Highness?” I asked.
“Ensley,” the king said, “retrieve the ring for me.”
The fairy flew at me.
But before he got to me, I slipped it on. Not my left hand. That was where I’d worn it when I was married, but this ring had a different meaning now. I put it on the ring finger of my right hand.
And my whole body filled with magic. All the magic, enough to charge a planet.
My skin was about to burst.
The power! So much power!
“No!” King Brightborn shouted.
“Strike the ground,” Ensley said. “After I go back inside you.”
I looked at Ensley curiously. “Why would I do what you say?”
“I’ve read your mind and your memories, human. You are not like the rest. I am sorry I didn’t tell you the truth before. I had to hide certain things from you, so I thought about tricks and pranks. Anything I could lift to the surface of my mind in hopes you wouldn’t go much deeper. Thankfully, it worked. Trust me, Caspar.”
“Ensley!” King Brightborn shouted. “Take the ring from him!”
“All right, here goes nothing,” I said.
Ensley dove back through the wound on my neck. This time, he healed me as he went.
He added his magic to mine.
Old Dogma New Tricks (The Elven Prophecy Book 2) Page 23