The Familiars #3: Circle of Heroes

by Adam Jay Epstein

  The circle of heroes stood side by side, hand in paw and tail wrapped around leg. As they became connected, a bright sunlight-colored aura started glowing around them; then orange rays burst forth from the seven, striking the glyphstone. The runic symbols covering the pillar began to sparkle as if a magic deep within the boulder was being awakened.

  Aldwyn felt as if he could finally put to rest his fear about fulfilling the prophecy.

  “Back at Stone Runlet,” he said to the others, “I read something in Kalstaff’s diary. He said that prophecies don’t always come true. I was afraid that the stars had made a mistake. That Jack had chosen the wrong familiar. That we’d fail. But I guess the stars had a plan after all.”

  “It wasn’t the stars that made the prophecy come true,” said Queen Loranella. “It was the three of you. Everybody makes their own destiny.”

  Across the field, a giant smoky-blue globe appeared. Hundreds of feet up in the air, the top floor of a tower materialized, followed by a curving staircase that led up to it. Then, like an intricate patchwork, one brick after another appeared, creating the tower’s smooth, gray outer walls and base. Veins of red stretched from its bottom to its peak, throbbing as if they were alive.

  “The Shifting Fortress,” said Aldwyn.

  They had brought it back.

  17

  BATTLE AT BRONZHAVEN

  The descendants remained in a circle. The glyphstone was still glowing, but there was no longer any light streaming from the descendants.

  “You can step back now,” said Queen Loranella. “The summoning spell is complete.”

  The queen signaled a chinchilla that was sitting nearby, and the brown ground rat, with its big ears and protruding whiskers, crawled up her arm and onto her shoulder. It opened its tiny mouth and proceeded to let out a deafening roar. The trumpeting sound seemed to be a gathering call. Once its echo spread through the maze of neighboring tents, more allies of the queen emerged into the open. There were hundreds of cloaked warriors, wearing different-colored robes, each bearing the crest of one of Vastia’s ten provinces. Carrying swords and staves, they gathered before the queen in orderly lines, awaiting her command.

  “I see you devised a shrewd battle plan,” said Galleon.

  “Yes, I only sent a fraction of our forces to protect the illusionary glyphstone,” said Queen Loranella. “I knew that once the Fortress was summoned, we would need the majority of our troops here.”

  Out of a separate tent came a man with curly red hair who Aldwyn knew as the shopkeeper from the familiar store in Bridgetower. He was joined by a menagerie of magical animals, many of which Aldwyn recognized from his brief stay in the shop. There were teleporting wombats, tiny lizards with saddles on their backs, large-eyed lemurs, poisonous hedgehogs, and more.

  “Dad, Phillip, what are you doing here?” asked a surprised Gilbert.

  Aldwyn turned to see a mass of Daku tree frogs approaching, including Gilbert’s dad and his brother Phillip. They were all armed with spears, but unlike the ones they had used in previous battles, these were thicker and made of bamboo, each with unique symbols carved into them.

  “We’ve come to fight alongside you, brother,” said Phillip.

  “And we brought you this,” said Gilbert’s dad.

  The elder tree frog held out a spear for Gilbert, who took it with great pride.

  “My valor staff,” he said, and Aldwyn thought he could glimpse a tear in his companion’s eyes. Gilbert promptly strapped it to his back.

  Then Sorceress Edna pushed through the crowd, holding a porcelain piccolo in her hands. Urbaugh and the other royal guardsmen stood beside Loranella.

  “Soldiers of Vastia, defenders of this land,” said the queen. “There are two tasks that remain before us. One is to defend this pillar. As long as it stands, the Shifting Fortress will be unable to move from this location. The other is to infiltrate the tower itself. You won’t see a door and the only window is at the very top—in the casting chamber. The only way to get inside is to conjure a telegate. The casting chamber is where you will find a receiving vessel that holds all of the dispelled magic taken from Vastia’s wizards. You must destroy it to reverse the disenchantment.”

  “I’ve seen what she’s talking about,” Aldwyn said quietly to Skylar. “Through the eye of one of the spyballs. A giant crystal urn filled with wisps of smoke, much like the vial that Coriander wore around his neck.”

  Meanwhile, Queen Loranella had continued issuing her commands. “Urbaugh, take the rangers of the Estovian province and the mace-wielders from the Crescent Islands. Try to carve a path to the tower.”

  Urbaugh nodded and began gathering a faction of black-hooded men and women with shaved heads. The queen turned to the guardsman sitting atop Thisby, one of the lightmares who had competed on the Scorch Path. The guardsman had dark black eyebrows and a thick mane of hair pulled back in a ponytail.

  “Commander Warden,” continued Loranella. “Take your pupils from Turnbuckle Academy and make a run for the Fortress. Familiars, descendants, do the same. My friends from Nearhurst, spread yourselves among the troops. Your illusions are an asset to all. Tree frogs, you’ll stay here and guard the glyphstone along with the Bronzhaven shield-bearers.”

  Paksahara’s zombie army was mobilizing its own plan of attack, with one half of it poised to defend the Shifting Fortress, and the other marching toward the glyphstone. Spyballs were looming overhead, watching every move of the queen’s army. That’s when Sorceress Edna used her piccolo to send out a melodic call. Within seconds Aldwyn felt the air starting to vibrate. A flock of tremor hawks thundered across the sky. The spyballs were unprepared for the swift attack, and it became readily apparent that these winged eyeballs were a tasty treat for the hawks, who began to gobble them up.

  Aldwyn and his companions were hurrying through the encampment to where the trees began. “I think we should split off from here,” said Orion. “I’ll draw the Dead Army’s attention away from you.”

  He nodded to Mason, who was perched in one of the trees.

  “Come, red bird,” he said. “Let’s put your illusionary skills to work.”

  Mason flew toward them and landed on the lightmare’s back, then gave a wink to Skylar before Orion galloped off into the trees. The familiars and Navid, Banshee, Marati, Galleon, and Simeon took a different path, stalking through the apple trees, while all around them, beyond the forest, the noise of battle could be heard. They continued on, over knobby roots and around shallow pools of quickmud. Aldwyn’s eyes never lost sight of the tip of the Fortress peeking out above the trees.

  “Has anyone seen Anura?” asked Gilbert.

  The others glanced around. Just as the realization was sinking in that they’d somehow managed to lose Anura in all the chaos, they heard a mighty crash up ahead. A twenty-foot-tall gundabeast broke through the trees before them, its three eyes bloodshot and angry, its horn sharp enough to pierce any armor. Chains were wrapped around its waist, and behind it a cave shaman with a sparking electrical whip prodded the creature.

  “Attack!” the tongueless shaman hissed through the hole in his throat.

  Galleon conjured a bolt of fire, and Marati and Navid delivered attacks of their own, but all merely bounced off the thick plating encasing the vicious beast’s hide.

  “Whew, I thought I’d lost you,” said Anura, bouncing up to the others. “I just got stuck in some quickmud.”

  And just like that, their luck changed. Suddenly constrictor vines reached out and grabbed the gundabeast by its wrists and ankles. Another tangle of vines took hold of the cave shaman and lifted him off his feet, making him disappear from view.

  “That’s what I would call good fortune,” said Aldwyn. “It seems those constrictor vines sprang out at just the right moment.”

  Gilbert turned to Anura.

  “More like you turned up at just the right moment,” he said to the golden toad. “I’m not sure I ever want to leave your side.”

  An
ura blushed.

  Gilbert blushed.

  “No, no. I didn’t mean it like that,” blurted out the tree frog. “I mean, unless you wanted me to. Okay, I’m going to stop talking now.”

  With the gundabeast held captive by the vines, the familiars and descendants made their way out of the woods and onto the battlefield, where Urbaugh and his troops were slashing their way through a pack of undead long-horned elk. Urbaugh was slicing two heads off at a time with his sword while the rangers beside him fired arrows at the zombie attackers. In front of them, Commander Warden and the young wizards of Turnbuckle Academy, who looked no older than Marianne or Dalton, were clearing a path toward the Fortress. They each had a familiar at their side casting spells and using their innate magical talents to fight back the dead hordes. Warden himself looked to be a superb leader, directing his pupils in wave after wave of coordinated attacks.

  Aldwyn turned to see Orion galloping through enemy forces. On the lightmare’s back was a perfect illusion being cast by Mason. Aldwyn and the others appeared to be riding atop the horse. They were drawing a tremendous amount of attention from Paksahara’s minions, both living and dead, and the few spyballs that were left after the tremor hawk assault. Mason was causing a distraction, drawing attention away from Aldwyn and the others.

  The familiars and descendants used the diversion as an opportunity to move forward. Keeping low to the ground, Aldwyn was beginning to think that they might be able to make it to the Shifting Fortress without having to engage in this lethal battle. Then he heard the pained howl of Simeon behind him. He spun around to see Lothar attacking the bloodhound, who struggled beneath the weight of the wolverine and three of his companions.

  “That illusion may have fooled the zombies, but your scent is unmistakable,” snarled Lothar. “Nothing compares to the real thing.”

  Aldwyn focused on a nearby boulder and telekinetically sent it flying through the air, knocking the wolverines clear off Simeon. They quickly got back on their feet and began circling. The old bloodhound lay there, badly wounded and hardly breathing.

  Galleon stepped forward.

  “Go,” he said to the animals. “I’ll handle this.”

  Aldwyn and the others hesitated.

  “A human risking his life for an animal?” asked Lothar, his voice dripping with hate. “Be not fooled, my four-legged brothers. It is nothing but cowardice—staying back to fight us rather than forging ahead against even greater odds.”

  “You’re wrong,” said Banshee. “You’ve never had a loyal, so you don’t know the meaning of the word.”

  The howler monkey walked up to Galleon’s side.

  “Continue on, Banshee,” said the wizard. “I’ll be okay.”

  “No. We stand together.”

  “Human and animal will never stand together,” said Lothar. “Man will always betray us in the end.”

  The wolverine leaped forward, baring his claws. Banshee turned invisible while Galleon chanted: “Trussilium bindus!”

  A silver rope materialized in his hand, and he threw the coiled end around Lothar’s ankle. While Banshee and Galleon grappled with the wolverines, Aldwyn, Skylar, Gilbert, Anura, Navid, and Marati ran on.

  The clouds above rumbled again and the image of Paksahara was smiling deviously down at them.

  “You’re losing, Loranella,” the hare’s voice called out. “What have you accomplished? Ridding me of my spyballs? I’ll just summon more of them. Fighting off some of my Dead Army? There are thousands more corpses to raise. The glyphstone will fall, and once it does, you’ll never find me again.”

  Aldwyn turned back and could see in the distance that the first of the zombie elephants had reached Loranella’s encampment. He made out what looked like small green dots jumping on top of them, and though the view wasn’t clear, he knew that the Daku tree frogs were using their ninja-like abilities to defend the still-glowing glyphstone. And it seemed they were being assisted by the shopkeeper’s assortment of familiars, too.

  But Paksahara’s taunts were not entirely unwarranted. Though her undead hordes had not yet toppled the pillar, they were beginning to push back Urbaugh’s and Warden’s assault on the Fortress. The Turnbuckle wizards were being overwhelmed. Not only were they combating the zombies, but now living animals loyal to Paksahara—like the firescale snakes and warthogs—had entered the fray. Warden was doing all he could to help, but without magic, he was just a man.

  “We can’t leave the young wizards behind,” said Gilbert.

  “If someone doesn’t make it into the Shifting Fortress soon, many more innocent lives will be lost,” said Skylar.

  Aldwyn was torn. He agreed with Gilbert but also knew that Skylar was right.

  “Besides, if their own familiars can’t help them, neither can we,” said Navid.

  “That may not be entirely true,” said Anura. “Go ahead without me. I’ll stay back with them.” She turned to Gilbert. “Maybe you can recite some of your poetry for me, you know, when this is all over.”

  Gilbert smiled. “I’d like that.”

  The golden toad hopped across the battlefield, and as she approached the young wizards, one of the firescales sent out a blast headed straight for Loranella’s army. But as luck would have it, the flames went off course, hitting a patch of dry grass. In an instant the ground caught fire, melting the zombies and causing the living animals to retreat.

  The familiars and the last two of the descendants—Navid and Marati—didn’t have far to go before reaching the Fortress. But Paksahara’s defenses were becoming ever more impenetrable. Several skeletal wolves came charging at them. Navid and Marati were fast to react: Navid taking out two with his venom blasts, Marati another with her astral claws. Gilbert pulled the valor staff from his back and lunged at one of the wolves, but the bamboo spear only grazed its bony target. Then, before Skylar or Aldwyn could do anything, Gilbert was swallowed by the zombie wolf.

  “No!” shouted Aldwyn. He was almost too stunned to react.

  The skeletal wolf that had swallowed Gilbert had no flesh or fur, only bones, and the tree frog could be seen trapped within the creature’s rib cage. He was shaking the bones as if they were the bars of a prison cell.

  “Somebody get me out of here,” screamed Gilbert. “Help!” Skylar reached into her satchel and grabbed a bright yellow storm berry. She flew over the undead wolf and had to dodge its claw as she dropped the berry, causing a dark cloud to appear. A lightning bolt shot out, striking the skeleton’s torso and shattering its bones. Gilbert was freed, falling to the ground.

  “Who knew these storm berries would come in so handy?” Skylar asked.

  Aldwyn, Skylar, Navid, and Marati were starting to move forward again, but Gilbert was still picking himself up and strapping his staff back over his shoulder. He looked down at a puddle that had formed from the berry’s impromptu storm. The tree frog leaped to his feet and pushed Aldwyn away from the muddy patch on which he was standing. Just as he did, a magical flaming arrow shot down from the tower, striking the spot where Aldwyn had been only a moment before.

  “Gilbert, how did you know?” asked Aldwyn.

  “I saw it in the puddle,” replied Gilbert.

  Another volley of fiery arrows came raining down, narrowly missing the animals but setting the earth around them on fire.

  “You need to guide us the rest of the way,” said Skylar.

  “How am I supposed to do that?” asked Gilbert.

  Skylar dipped her beak back into her satchel and removed another bunch of storm berries. She threw them in a line leading to the Fortress, creating a path of storm clouds that left puddles of rain all the way to the tower. Gilbert glanced down into the first, and Aldwyn too caught a glimpse of the vision that appeared: more flaming arrows striking the ground in a zigzag pattern. Aldwyn looked up to see that same ground before them, yet to be bombarded with fire from above.

  Gilbert leaped forward, bounding from side to side, anticipating where the next attack would land
. The others followed, and as long as they stepped where Gilbert did, they avoided the rain of fire from above. The same couldn’t be said for the zombies chasing them, who became unwitting targets of the blast. Clearly Paksahara hadn’t been kidding when she said her Dead Army soldiers were disposable.

  Amazingly, the familiars reached the outside wall of the Shifting Fortress unharmed. Aldwyn was awed by the tower’s height. From a distance it had looked large, but up close he got his first true sense of just how tall the structure really was. As Loranella had said, there was no door, and they couldn’t reach the window in the casting chamber. Aldwyn could see that the walls were perfectly smooth, save for one cornerstone that was mysteriously absent. At the top of the tower Aldwyn could see what looked like a sculpted stone lion’s head, its mouth agape. Obsidian powder poured out from it, calling Skylar’s attention to it as well.

  Despite the mess of shattered bones behind them, more zombies were on their way.

  “Now might be a good time to conjure that telegate,” said Aldwyn.

  “I’m working on it,” said Skylar.

  She reached into her satchel again and removed several different components and objects.

  “Seashell, dust mites, herbs, lead weight, open up a telegate!” The blue jay’s chant was urgent.

  She let the spell’s ingredients fall to the ground, and at once a gateway materialized on the surface of the wall. As Paksahara’s undead minions continued to march toward them, the five animals jumped through the opening, into the Shifting Fortress.

  18

  THE SHIFTING FORTRESS

  Once inside, Skylar, Aldwyn, Gilbert, Navid, and Marati found themselves in a giant square room with a spiral staircase leading upward. Below them, an enormous blue globe was spinning and rotating in the glass floor. As it turned, Aldwyn could have sworn he was able to catch glimpses of other parts of the world, presumably all the different places the Fortress could shift to.