Air Keep

by J. Scott Savage

  “Help me!” Kyja screamed, slashing at the first skeleton.

  Marcus’s mind was a blank. He needed to do something, but he couldn’t think what. Every spell he’d studied had disappeared from his head.

  The undead creature was taller than Kyja, its reach longer. Their blades met with a clang of steel. It brought its weapon, a curved sword with a jagged edge, down at Kyja. But she was quicker. She stepped inside the swing and stabbed the skeleton in the chest.

  “Help her,” Riph Raph shouted. He dove at the creatures, shooting fire, but it wasn’t enough. The second creature raised its mace. The spiked metal ball came down at Kyja.

  Marcus finally reacted. He cast the first thing that came into his head—a simple land magic spell to block the mace. But his land magic was weak, and the weapon missed Kyja by bare inches.

  That could’ve hit her. I could’ve gotten her killed.

  The thought finally broke Marcus out of his daze. He stretched out his hand and called on the power of air. A flock of birds swooped from the branches of a bare tree as a funnel of ice and snow began to spin and swirl in the air in front of Marcus.

  Kyja chopped the legs out from under the creature, and it fell to the ground, still trying to reach her with its sword. The other two skeletons closed in.

  Marcus pointed, and the funnel of air raced toward them. “Get back!” he yelled to Kyja as the miniature tornado lifted the first skeleton from the ground and slammed it into the one beside it. Bones crunched and weapons went flying.

  Kyja backed away from the swirling vortex.

  Four more skeletons charged, and Marcus knocked them over like bowling pins, his arms and hands tingling with power.

  “Take that! Go back to your mossy graves,” Riph Raph screamed, swirling and looping in a skyte victory dance. But the celebration was short-lived.

  Creatures were filling the street from every direction. Not just undead humans, but dogs with two heads and lolling tongues, bears with gaping wounds and slavering teeth, and things Marcus couldn’t recognize at all. He smashed them with his tornado, but for every creature he destroyed, two more appeared.

  A pair of Thrathkin S’Bae appeared from behind the inn. The dark wizards looked in Marcus and Kyja’s direction, and she grabbed his arm. “We have to go.”

  He didn’t want to. The feeling of power raging through him was thrilling. He was no longer the boy with one good arm and leg; he was a wizard, a warrior. But Kyja continued to pull, screaming for him to stop, and only then did Marcus realize they were nearly surrounded.

  “This way,” Riph Raph called above the roar of the skirmishes all around them. He flew through an alley, and Marcus and Kyja followed as best they could, forcing their way through snow nearly up to their hips in some places. The entire city seemed to be on fire. Everywhere they went, buildings collapsed, hissing on the snowy ground. Living fought with undead. It was hard to see through the smoke and steam. Marcus’s leg screamed with pain; he was having a hard time keeping up. They turned a corner and found themselves in a dead end. From one side of the road to the other, flaming debris and collapsed buildings blocked their way.

  “Back,” Kyja said. But when they turned, something huge plummeted out of the darkness. Wind knocked them backward as huge wings battered the air.

  Marcus skidded to a halt as the Summoner landed in front of them. He searched for somewhere to run, but they were trapped. The creature clawed the ground, talons ripping furrows ten feet long in the frozen ground. Its mouth opened in an evil grin, revealing two sets of needle-sharp teeth—each one bigger than Marcus and Kyja combined.

  Riph Raph shot balls of fire at the creature, trying to create a distraction, but they bounced harmlessly off its bloodred scales.

  “I have longed for this moment,” the Summoner snarled. Its voice was garbled and twisted—barely understandable. But Marcus knew it at once.

  “Bonesplinter?” What had happened to the Thrathkin S’Bae to turn it into this monster?

  The creature threw back its head, roared in triumph, and laughed. “Die, chosen ones!” It blasted them with a stream of killing fire they couldn’t possibly survive.

  Chapter 19

  Decisions

  Kyja stared up at the immense red beast. The sword dropped from her fingers. It was less than useless against the powerful magical creature.

  “Die, chosen ones!” it roared again.

  In that moment she realized that she and Marcus would both be killed—with too many things undone, too many words unsaid. As the Summoner opened its jaws wide, she reached out and took Marcus’s hand—terrified of dying alone.

  A stream of fire erupted from the creature’s mouth, and Kyja clamped her eyes shut. She waited for the flames, knowing the heat would crisp her on contact.

  Nothing happened. Everything went silent.

  Kyja opened her eyes. The Summoner was still there, its jaws opened wide. The flames shooting from its mouth stopped only a few yards from her and Marcus. She could feel their heat baking her face. But she was still alive.

  “Close my eyes for ten winks, and look what you two get yourselves into,” a high-pitched voice said.

  “Mr. Z!” Kyja’s legs wobbled, and it was all she could do to keep from falling to the ground. Marcus appeared just as shaken.

  She looked at the Summoner—frozen and defenseless—and realized that this was their chance to kill it. “Cast everything you can think of at it,” she told Marcus, grabbing her sword off the ground.

  “No, no!” Mr. Z said, raising a finger. Kyja felt her body drop into slow motion.

  “You-must-not-attempt-to-harm-anyone-or-anything-or-time-restarts-immediately,” the little man said, his words coming rapid fire. “Doyouunderstand?”

  Kyja tried to answer, but couldn’t until Mr. Z sped her back up.

  “What are we going to do about this?” she asked as soon as she could speak again. Everything had stopped for the moment, but as soon as Mr. Z let time resume, the city would be burned to the ground.

  “Nothing,” Mr. Z said. “It’s time to go. The Aerisians are waiting.” He put his fingers between his lips to whistle.

  “Stop,” Marcus said, grabbing Mr. Z’s hand. “We can’t leave. The city will be destroyed. Like Windshold.”

  Mr. Z waved a handkerchief in front of his face, trying to clear away smoke. “But we can’t interfere.” He whistled again, and Drymaios was suddenly by his side.

  Kyja clenched her jaw. “Why can’t we interfere? Isn’t that the point of finding the elementals—to stop the Dark Circle and to save people?” She waved her hands at the death and destruction frozen all around them. “The Aerisians could stop this.”

  “Which is why we must speak with them.” Mr. Z gestured to the snail. “We must leave immediately.”

  Kyja turned to Marcus, anger and helplessness making her feel like crying. There were children in the city. Children who would die if she and Marcus didn’t do something. But what could the two of them do? If they let time restart, the Summoner would kill them too.

  Marcus gripped his staff. “We’ll come back. As soon as we can.”

  By the time they returned, it would be too late for the city and its people. Kyja looked at the burning buildings, and a tear dripped down her cheek. Silently, the two of them climbed onto the snail.

  As before, Mr. Z got inside. Sometime later, Kyja couldn’t tell if it was a second or a day—she didn’t remember any time passing, but she could feel that it had—the little man climbed out of the shell.

  Remembering how they had traveled from Terra ne Staric to Icehold, Kyja looked for a door. Instead Mr. Z led them into a bank of especially thick smoke. With fires burning all around, the air was far too warm for her heavy coat. But a moment later, they had stepped out of the smoke into a snowy chasm, and she had her answer.

  Wherever they were was cold, but not as frigid as it had been in Icehold. She looked up at the snow-covered cliffs to either side. “Is this Air Keep?” she asked. A
fter Water Keep—which had been a strange mixture of air and water with buildings and fountains floating past, and Land Keep—a huge library shaped like a spiral tree—this place seemed ordinary.

  Mr. Z pointed into a thick mist at the end of the chasm.

  “We go through there?” Marcus asked, trying to keep his balance in the deep snow.

  “Absolutely not,” Riph Raph said. “Who knows what’s in there?”

  “Go or stay. Wait or play,” Mr. Z said. He started to get back into the shell, but Kyja grabbed the sleeve of his coat.

  “You’re leaving?”

  “I’m late already.” Mr. Z checked his pocket watch. “Perilously late. Preposterously late. Perniciously late. Should have left days ago. In fact, I think I will.”

  And suddenly, he was gone. With no good-bye. No explanation. Not even a footprint to show where he’d stood. “Watch what you say-ay-ay!” a voice echoed.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Marcus asked.

  “I have no idea.” Kyja glanced toward the swirling mist. Why had Mr. Z left them here? Why not take them directly to Air Keep? The thick fog made her distinctly uncomfortable. “Should we go in?” she asked.

  Marcus shifted from one foot to the other. “If we don’t, we’ll probably freeze to death.”

  Kyja slid her shoulder under Marcus’s arm, helping him through the heavy snow. Riph Raph flew to her arm and latched onto her robe. “If we f-freeze to death, I want to say for the record that I never thought we should have left the tower in the first place.”

  “If it were up to you, we’d spend all our time sleeping and eating,” Kyja said.

  Riph Raph snuggled against her robe. “And you have a problem with that why?”

  As they walked toward the mist, Kyja realized her sword was gone. Had she dropped it sometime during their trip here, or had Mr. Z taken it on purpose? She had no reason to think the air elementals were dangerous, but she would have felt far less anxious with a weapon of some kind.

  Kyja and Marcus pressed against each other as they stepped into the thick cloud bank, which blocked all light. The air felt slightly warmer in the fog, but as the moisture froze to their skin and clothing, it made the cold twice as bad. Not being able to see anything was terrifying. “Can you feel ahead with your staff to make sure we aren’t about to fall off a cliff?” Kyja asked Marcus, tugging him forward.

  “I’m trying,” Marcus said. “But the snow is so deep, I’m not sure I’d be able to tell I’ve hit a hole until we fall into it.”

  Riph Raph sneezed. “Maybe if we were to call Mr. Z and tell him we changed our minds, he’d take us back. I’d be willing to let him keep Turnip Head in exchange.”

  Marcus’s staff made a shushing sound as he jabbed it into the snow ahead. “Or we could offer you to his snail. I’ve heard racing snails think skytes are a delicacy.”

  Kyja’s robe hung heavy against her body, with ice weighing it down and cracking every time she moved. “D-do you th-think you can use m-m-magic to warm us?”

  “I’ve b-been trying s-since we g-g-got here,” Marcus said. They’d been walking for less than five minutes, but already he sounded exhausted. He leaned on her more and more with each step. “Something s-seems to be bl-blocking fire magic.”

  “Can you breathe fire?” Kyja asked Riph Raph.

  The skyte coughed a blue flame no bigger than a grape, which winked out as soon as it left his mouth.

  “It has to b-be the Air Eh-Elementals,” Marcus gasped. “They’ve cr-created some k-kind of barrier.” His staff clunked against something solid, and the two of them stopped.

  “What is it?” Kyja asked.

  “Not sure.” Marcus jabbed his staff again. Clunk-clunk. “Feels like dirt or maybe rock.”

  Kyja squinted into the fog. Was it just her imagination, or could she see through the mist just a little? “I th-think we might be r-reaching the end,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Let’s be c-careful. We have no idea what’s on the other s-side.”

  “Nothing good,” Riph Raph muttered.

  Kyja and Marcus moved slowly forward. The fog was definitely thinning.

  “Does it feel warmer to you?” Marcus whispered.

  “Yes,” Kyja said, “and the snow isn’t as deep.”

  Marcus’s staff thudded regularly ahead of them now, and Kyja was almost sure she could see light ahead. A moment later, the fog disappeared completely.

  “Ohhh,” Kyja gasped as they stepped out onto a grassy meadow. “It’s beautiful.” Sunlight beat down on them from a clear blue sky, melting away the snow and ice. Hundreds of butterflies danced about multicolored wildflowers, which filled the meadow like a living rainbow.

  “Look!” Marcus pointed to another meadow ahead and slightly above them. It was perhaps thirty paces across. Thick grass covered a base of solid rock. But what made the meadow so incredible was that the entire thing floated in the middle of the air.

  “It’s like an island,” she murmured. “A floating island.” But if nothing held it up, what about the meadow they were standing on? Her stomach leaped into her throat as she looked around the meadow and realized they were standing on an island as well. The only direction that didn’t appear to drop completely away into thin air was back into the mist. “What’s holding us up?”

  “Air magic?” Marcus suggested.

  “Get me out of this hat,” Riph Raph said, the pom-pom above his head swinging wildly as he clawed at it.

  “Here,” Kyja said, untying the knot beneath his chin.

  “Gah!” Riph Raph spat. “Who would put a hat on a skyte?” He flew to the edge of the island and flung it over the side.

  Kyja laughed at the thought of someone seeing a skyte-sized hat falling out of the sky—although she wasn’t exactly sure who or what was below them.

  Marcus struggled out of his coat and mittens. “I’m sweating to death in this thing.”

  Kyja pulled her coat off as well. With the warm air and bright sunlight, even her robe felt too heavy. “Let’s leave them here.”

  They piled the coats near the edge of the mist, and Marcus pointed to a rope bridge leading from their island to the next one. “I think we’re supposed to walk up that.”

  At the same time they noticed the bridge, something leaped from the wood-and-rope structure, onto their island. As Kyja saw the creature, her hand reached for the sword that was no longer there.

  “What is that thing?” Marcus asked, taking a step backward.

  Kyja shook her head. She’d never seen anything like it. A giant set of teeth with no mouth or body, which appeared to be made completely of ice. The teeth took another hop toward them. They looked sharp, and big enough that one bite could take off an arm or a leg.

  They jumped again, icy molars and incisors clicking against each other.

  Riph Raph flapped his wings and launched himself into the air. “I hope they only have a taste for turnip.”

  Chapter 20

  Something to Chew On

  The giant ice teeth leaped toward them again and landed nearly halfway across the meadow. Kyja stumbled into Marcus. “Can you do something? Some kind of spell?”

  “Right.” Marcus tried to create a fireball. But there was no response to his request at all. He tried blasting rocks and earth at the teeth, with the exact same result. It was like he was completely cut off from all land and fire magic

  “Use air,” Kyja said, seeming to realize what was happening.

  Marcus remembered the air spell he’d used against the undead creatures in Icehold and tried to conjure it. Nothing happened. “None of my magic is working,” he said. The teeth jumped twice more. Sun glinted off their gleaming surface. “We have to go back.”

  They turned to retreat, but when they tried to go through the mist, they slammed against its cold surface.

  “We’re trapped!” Kyja yelled, pounding her fists against the gray wall that had closed in behind them.

  Riph Raph dove toward the teeth, shooting fizzlin
g bursts of flame. The teeth leaped incredibly high, nearly snatching the skyte from thin air. He flapped higher to get out of their reach.

  Marcus ran his hands across the frozen fog, hoping to find a hidden entrance, but the wall was solid from one edge of the island to the other. He glanced over the grass and saw a vertical drop-off that went so far down, he couldn’t find the ground below them.

  The teeth turned and took two more quick leaps. Three or four more, and it would have them.

  “We have to go around!” Marcus yelled.

  Kyja took Marcus’s arm, and the two of them raced along the edge of the meadow—Kyja nearly dragging Marcus as he limped behind her.

  Marcus had no idea how the teeth even knew where they were. As far as he could tell, they had no eyes, ears, or nose. But as soon as the teeth realized what they were trying to do, it turned and cut off their path to the bridge.

  Marcus’s foot caught in a clump of grass, and he sprawled to the ground. The teeth attacked. Kyja grabbed Marcus’s staff and jabbed at the creature. It chomped down on one end, gnashing the wood to splinters.

  She jabbed again, managing to knock the teeth back a little, but it was a fight she couldn’t win. Kyja held the teeth off the best she could, but little by little she and Marcus were forced to the edge of the meadow. Marcus found himself staring down at an endless drop.

  The creature leaped at Marcus. Kyja stabbed at it, but the broken staff slid off the slippery teeth and they clipped the edge of Marcus’s calf. Icy pain raced through his leg where the teeth had cut it. As the creature snapped at him again, Marcus tried to shield himself with his arm, but the teeth sank into his bicep.

  “Leave him alone!” Kyja screamed, battering the teeth with her fists.

  Riph Raph screeched, throwing what little fire he could at the ice teeth. None of it affected the creature at all.

  Marcus looked at his arm. The skin from his bicep down had turned gray and hard. He couldn’t feel anything. It was almost like he had—

  “Frostbite,” he muttered.

  The teeth disappeared in a puff of white smoke, and a swarm of butterflies rose into the air in a kaleidoscope of colors.