Leandro scanned left and right but not overhead. In the sky-highs, we could travel across to the Great Beyond and find the kids—and a way home. I pointed up. “Got to get there,” I whispered.
Now? Charlie mouthed. I put up my hands. Not yet. We inched closer to one another, our heat pulsing between us and our equally sweaty smell.
I dared a peek through the bush. Leandro stepped forward with hands on his hips and peered through the shadowy woods. He pushed the hood of his cloak farther back and blue rays sliced across his face. In one swift movement, he removed his bow slung across his chest and slid an arrow in place. We had no chance of winning against his archery skills. During this entire performance, he stared through the trees, his masterful eyes doing what they knew best—hunting.
If he moved his head to the right, he’d be staring right in my eyes. His scar blazed white against his tanned skin from hairline to chin. I breathed shallowly. In and out. My knees grew numb from kneeling but I dared not move. With the crackle of one bent twig, our freedom would end.
Snap!
Leandro took a step toward our spot. Another peek and my breath caught in one big terrifying gulp. A cadmean beast paced back and forth by his side! The giant fox’s head reached Leandro’s shoulders, and its horse-sized legs rippled with each step as it swished its thick tail. Charlie dragged his fingers down one cheek when he saw it, his face a mask of horror. Sweat broke out on my forehead. My dry mouth couldn’t wash away the sour taste on my tongue.
A growl cut through the quiet followed by a chuff. “I smell the Reeker, master.”
“Good work, boy.”
Through our small view of the thick bush, a tail smashed the air and a giant ear twitched. The beast’s head rammed into view and I almost fell sideways, fearful it saw us. Its heavy panting beat the air as its fat tongue pulsed in an out, dripping foamy blobs. No Tastykakes for this monster. Its grisly tongue wanted Tastykids.
Charlie’s eyes seemed like they’d burst from their sockets. It was agony to keep still when every bone in our bodies wanted to run. My legs and feet were now completely numb. Soon running may not be an option. The Wild Childs would have to wait. Plan B that had been nudging my brain came to me: steal back my lightning orb and steal a Lightning Gate key to get home. One person could get us both.
I stood up, stumbling on numb feet. Charlie pulled at my jeans, begging me to get down. No turning back now. I rose above the bush in full sun between the trees. “Looking for us, Leandro?”
Charlie shot up next to me, pulling at me to run but escape was futile. With my shout, Leandro focused his arrow on me. The cadmean beast stomped and snorted, lunging forward. Fire exploded from its mouth, emblazing a bush next to us. The blistering heat scorched my face and arms.
“Down, beast,” Leandro said with a cold calm, his finger poised to shoot me through the heart. He’d said we were to be taken alive—and where else would they take us but back to the castle?
“Mon Dieu!” Charlie moaned next to me, his hands falling away as he gave up his fight to run. The willow tree above unclenched its boughs as if it relinquished hope too, releasing yellow leaves. They spun down and burst into flame upon touching the burning bush. Flying ash coated my skin and mixed with beads of sweat that I dared not wipe off.
“We can use him to steal back the lightning orb and find a Lightning Gate key,” I said to Charlie under my breath. His mouth formed an O but he still looked doubtful. I hadn’t figured out how we’d sneak the key from Leandro’s bag or get the orb from Artemis’s chambers once we got back to the castle. That was plan C.
“We can’t run from you,” I said to Leandro, stepping out from behind the bush with Charlie right behind me. Firelight from the flaming bush streaked across Leandro’s face, distorting it into two faces—one dark, one light.
He lowered his bow. “You did though. The queen wanted to have some fun hunting you. Come with me willingly and give her what she wants. If you do, she’ll make your end easier, Barbaros.”
She was the barbarian, not us!
“No end,” Charlie pleaded, clasping his hands together with a bowed head and whispering a string of French words I hoped were prayers.
“Leandro won’t let anything happen to us, will you?” I said.
He pushed his eyebrows down and raised his bow again. “It’s not up to me. I follow my queen’s orders and she ordered me to find you, Oracle. You escaped her hunt, Barbaros stinker. Very clever.”
Clever wasn’t the feeling inside me at the moment.
The cadmean beast threw its snout in the air. “One bite, master! I’ll let them live. Hungrrrry.”
“No, beast!” Leandro said sharply and thrust his bow at us. “On your knees, Reekers. We’ll drive the Barbaros right out of you.”
We did as he said while he threw his bow across his chest and pulled his fire belt from under his cloak, snapping it like a whip. It grew long enough with magic to tie us together.
Leandro first tied Charlie’s hands in front. When it was my turn, Leandro’s hair fell across my cheek. His burnt chocolate smell of earth and leather whisked past me and my longing for him to be what he once was tore through me in a raw ache.
“Don’t do this, Leandro,” I choked out as he finished my knots, but he pulled the rope tighter and hauled us up.
The quiet surge of the nearby river we’d escaped on called our freedom but no chance of that as the cadmean beast trotted back and forth. With each head toss, the beast’s slimy slobber sprayed the air. The willow trees drooped lower as if the forest held its breath waiting for our fate to unfold.
Bits of ash floated in the air, landing on my tongue with an acrid taste. Cold crept into my toes from my muddy boots sinking in sandy soil, and my thighs and arms chafed from sweat. Smoke from the bush blinded me for a moment, and through my tears, Leandro blurred to faceless black. The bush leaped in a final fiery dance and died, leaving behind pitiful, charred stick fingers. My vision cleared but not my chest, as it rose with shudders I pushed back down.
Leandro pulled the arrows from my quiver and tossed them in his own. “As if you could ever be worthy enough to fight me. Keep your bow, boy. It has no power against me.”
“Who’s making you do this?”
He didn’t answer as he shoved us along in front of him.
“Ahh, forget it, Joshua,” Charlie said with a sniff. “At least we’ll die together, as brothers.”
“Nobody’s brother is dying today.” I struggled to loosen my ropes. One reach in my pocket and the journal would prove to Leandro we were in this together—if he remembered his old life and the people he once loved. I could show him the pendant too, but he may think I stole it. He yanked my belt rope, razoring it deep into my wrists. “We’re connected, Leandro. I can show you how.”
“I’m connected to no one, least of all a Reeker.”
The cadmean beast snorted in agreement.
“Your wife, Dee Dee, I knew her.”
The tension on our rope slackened for a moment and pulled tight again. “You could not.”
“I did. On Earth.”
Leandro yanked both our belt ropes, sending Charlie to bang painfully into my shoulder. “You lie!”
“She escaped from here. Please remember.”
The belt rope let loose and Leandro spun me to face him, taking Charlie along for the ride. His eyes dug deep into mine as he pressed his face to me, his hair falling on either side like a shroud covering me in his darkness. “My wife is dead. My son is dead. You know nothing of this.”
I feared saying all I knew might send him over the edge, but if he saw my mother’s picture, maybe he’d believe and come back to me.
“I know you, Leandro. Don’t you know me?”
Charlie’s sniffs turned to full blown sobs now.
“Let my hands free and I’ll show you,” I begged. Leandro pinched my arms, his eyes blazing, but there was no stopping now. I went on. “You helped us set all the kids free in the Lost Realm. We fought aga
inst Hekate alongside King Apollo and my grandfather. You swore to appeal to Artemis to make Nostos a better place. You saved my life, and I saved yours. How could you forget?”
His grip lessened on me and I went on, mesmerized by his fierce gaze. “You’re Leandro of the Arrow Realm. You deserted your post to seek your lost family. You risked your own life to help others. You never give up. Don’t give up now. We need you. I need you.”
Leandro’s hold relaxed, his forehead creased.
“You’re not a broken arrow,” I whispered.
His face drooped, the anger fleeing, and he caressed the branded scar on his arm.
The cadmean beast pawed the ground, breaking through our moment. “Master, stop listening to this Barbaros stinker. He is nothing!”
Leandro’s arms fell to his side and he stepped back, our space broken. “I am nothing.”
He said it so softly it took a moment for me to register what he said. He gazed off into the woods as if answers hid there to awaken him from a spell. Was there no way to break through to him and no one on our side? Maybe the words of his world could work.
“For the love of Olympus! Help us, Leandro!”
Charlie tugged at me but what did we have to lose? The queen wanted us alive.
“By the gods,” I shouted.
“By the gods yourself, Joshua,” Charlie pleaded. “Just stop!”
Leandro’s head snapped to attention and the cadmean beast growled low in his throat. “Master, it’s time to deliver these Reekers.”
Leandro’s face rearranged back to a dark veil, and he shoved us on our journey again, but I couldn’t give up on unleashing the man hidden inside.
“By the arrow of Artemis, wake up!”
“Enough!” he bellowed at me.
The beast leaped to my side, silencing my quest. Putrid breath pulsed on my cheek. Hot foam splattered my shoulder. I dared not look it in the eye but kept moving forward as it kept pace with me.
“Fine,” I said. “Take us to the castle. I’ll prove it there. Maybe you’ll change back to who you are.”
“We’re not headed to the castle,” he said in an even tone.
The cadmean beast howled as if Leandro cracked a joke and Charlie flinched, shooting me a worried glance as he bounced from foot to foot. The violet sky darkened with building clouds as we kept up with our captor. It seemed an hour passed. The willow trees became oak and pine again, the loamy sand turned to hard dirt, and the warm salt air changed to a cool, dry breeze. Back in the Arrow Realm.
The wind picked up harder, tossing twigs down as branches sawed back and forth. Beyond us, a limb crashed to the ground, echoing across the forest. Charlie and I both jumped.
“Where are we going?” I said to Leandro, after trekking in silence forever.
“Between Artemis’s castle and the Wild Lands. Not far from the bog. Two clicks that way.” He nodded in the direction.
“What’s there?”
He paused as if considering whether to tell me. “The Black Heart Tree. There you’ll do my queen’s bidding.”
“I won’t! Not ever!”
He pressed my shoulder hard. Where once his warm hand radiated courage and hope, it now cut me with a chill that shivered to my toes.
What had I done?
“You’ll have no choice. Powers are at force here. Soon your powers—and your body—will be taken; there’ll be no more use for you.” He spoke flat, monotonous. Someone else’s voice. Someone else’s words.
Dread filled my veins with ice and the cadmean beast howled louder, its cries bouncing off the trees like shards of glass in my ears.
“Charlie, I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He didn’t answer. He hung his head and stared at his shuffling feet, trapped in his own world of lost hope.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
We slogged along in silence as the cadmean beast snapped its jaws at our heads whenever we slowed. On and on, we stepped through the lifeless woods, its creatures in hiding. Once, something rustled underfoot in the leaves but slithered off, as if it knew to stay far away. The sun peaked high in the sky. Our fourth day on Nostos.
After some time, Charlie managed to wriggle his fingers into his front pocket and slip out his knife. He twirled to thrust it at Leandro but I shoved him off. In a flash, the knife was back in Leandro’s hand. He smiled. “Nice to have this back.”
Charlie groaned and I quivered inside with relief and despair. No matter who Leandro was now, I didn’t want him hurt.
I stretched my fingers into my front jeans pocket, where I’d moved Apollo’s flute. Was there a chance the flute could call the korax again, like when we first arrived?
I slid it out, bent over, and blew hard. Urgent chimes filled the air.
“What are you doing?” Leandro jolted me to stop and I blew harder again and again.
Shrieks burst from above us. The korax! Our one chance. They’d helped us in the Lost Realm. Would they now?
“Korax! Your family helped us escape from the Lost Realm. Apollo set them free!” I yelled up in a race of words before Leandro stopped me. “Help us!”
Leandro reached for my flute. “Silence!”
I twisted out of his hands just in time, and the cadmean beast roared with fire. I jumped back with Charlie. We missed getting singed by a hair.
To my surprise, Leandro laughed and let go of the fire belt that led us along. “See how far you get, malumpus-tongue. The great birds work for Artemis.”
We stumbled back with our freedom. Charlie shoved me to run but I held him back. A dark shadow blocked out the blue sun.
“Light bringers,” a hiss screeched in my ears.
Leandro commanded them. “Take these Reekers to Artemis!”
“We’re friends of King Apollo,” I blew the flute again. “This is his flute! He helped your Lost Realm family, but Artemis kidnapped Apollo and he died because of her!”
The birds hovered as if debating which side to follow.
“Why do you hesitate, korax?” Leandro yelled with a furrowed brow, raising his bow. Charlie tugged me along now, begging me to run. “You answer to Artemis. I’ve taken your brothers down. I’ll take you down!”
Black wings flapped in slow motion as the two birds hung over us for what seemed an eternity.
“Trust light bringers.” The words flew around us like flames from a great blaze. A rush of wind flattened me and Charlie into a tree as the giant black ravens zoomed toward us. Leandro gripped his dagger, his smirk gone. Talons of curved bone slashed the air. Fat snake tongues pulsed from beaks. Beady electric green eyes zeroed in on me.
“The Oracle is here!” I screamed with emphasis. The korax tucked their black wings in and shot between the trees.
The leader reached us first with a loud caw to its partner behind him. “Save Oracle.”
Leandro backed up, puzzlement on his face turning to anger. He nocked an arrow to his bow and fired. Charlie and I dropped to the ground as the arrow zinged into the trunk where my head had been moments ago. Wind, propelled by the giant birds, cut through the air, plowing over us toward Leandro. His fingers flew. Arrow after arrow shot past us. The birds dodged left and right between trees, just missing the arrows and the cadmean beast’s fiery breath.
Then our captors were gone. Beaks snatched them up and carried them off. A howl and a shout charged the air. I watched Leandro’s legs dangle next to the kicking cadmean beast who continued to shoot flames, catching the treetops on fire.
“Hold the key!” Leandro yelled and threw his knife down. A road of flames followed them and the black mass of wings disappeared. The woods fell silent. Charlie picked up the knife and we both stared at the sky.
“What did Leandro mean when he said ‘hold the key’?” I said.
Charlie didn’t answer. He popped open the knife and stared at me with a face I’d never seen before—a face full of hate.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Charlie, help get my belt off!”
He saw
ed through the end of his belt rope first to free himself.
“Do mine.”
Instead, he grabbed the fire belt and tied me to a tree before I knew what happened. I struggled to get loose, but it grew longer with Nostos magic as Charlie stretched it tighter, knotting it in place.
“Stop it!”
Charlie stepped back and thrust the knife in my face. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Let me go!”
I threw myself against the tree to free myself but all it did was tighten my trap. I slumped over, my brain muddled with what was going on. How on Earth could I stop it? Except this wasn’t Earth.
Charlie moved closer. The knife sparkled like a silver fish as he tossed it from hand to hand, flipping in the air amongst the sun’s motes. “Don’t worry. She wants you alive.”
“Artemis.”
“Of course,” Charlie snorted. “She’s my family now and all her people. You were a sad excuse for a brother. Always getting me into danger. What kind of brother does that?”
“Who are you?”
He spun the knife in my face. “We were supposed to have fun.” He yanked the flute out of my hand and stomped on it, smashing it apart like our friendship. “Instead, you drag me back here to follow you around once again. I’m sick of following you. Who put you in charge? Artemis promised I could be a leader! People will follow me now.”
“Can’t you see she’s put a spell on you!”
First Leandro, now Charlie. Artemis was taking down all my friends with her evil.
Breathe deeply. Find the calm.
I did and backtracked through the events before Crazy Charlie became enemy number one. It happened right after Leandro was snatched by the korax. He’d said, “hold the key.”
It started to fall in place.
I’d seen enough spy movies where the bad guys hypnotize their victims and use trigger words to set them on a mission. When did Artemis have a chance to hypnotize Charlie? He wasn’t alone with her and her slave, Hypnos. Wait … he was! When we were separated while getting hosed down in the dungeon. Was this her plan B?
Joshua and the Arrow Realm Page 13