Air Keep

by J. Scott Savage

  Just before he found himself here, Marcus had seen the glass castle tearing itself apart. Was that real? Or had the whole thing—castles, gardens, and ishkabiddles—been some kind of elaborate illusion?

  He had no idea. And he didn’t think the man and woman before him would provide the answers.

  “Are you . . .” He searched for the right word, but the best he could come up with was, “Real?”

  The woman looked at the man to her left and giggled—a tinkling of bells, a splashing of water, and a whistle of wind through trees, all in one.

  The man pulled his spear—a tree branch with green leaves still growing along its length—from the grass, drew back his arm and launched the spear into the air. It soared far above the island, circled back like a boomerang, and planted itself in the ground. A dark-green vine climbed the spear. Pink roses bloomed along the vine like a movie set to fast forward.

  “Does that look real to you?” the man asked.

  Marcus was almost positive the Aerisian’s words hadn’t been uttered by human vocal cords. Like the woman’s laughter, the sound came from something else. The scream of a dragon, the clang of metal on rock, the roar of a rushing river. Somehow they all blended to form words he could understand. It reminded him a little of the electric pianos that let you play a song using dog barks or other random sounds.

  “The ishkabiddles looked real too,” Marcus said.

  The woman laughed again. “They are.” She had the same mixed-together voice as the man, except while his sounds were all growls, roars, and crashes, her voice was made of gentler sounds—chirping crickets, rustling leaves blown across the ground, and the tinkle of water tapping against a window pane. “I’m Divum and this is Caelum. Would you prefer to speak with the ishkabiddles? I rather think they looked quite splendid in their crowns and capes.”

  “We’d prefer to get some answers,” Kyja said, her face stern. “Some serious answers.”

  Caelum chuckled, and Marcus thought their constant laughter was going to get old fast. “I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place for serious answers. Didn’t you get enough of those from your water and land friends?” From the man’s tone, it was clear what he thought of the land and water elementals.

  Marcus snorted. “At least they didn’t attack us and put us through a bunch of stupid riddles.”

  “Welcomed you right in, did they?” Caelum held out his hand, which was made of tiny frogs, each puffing up its throat and croaking softly. Marcus wondered what would happen if they leaped away at once. Would the man lose his hand? Or would something else take their place?

  “Well . . .” Marcus hesitated. They’d had to pass several tests before they found the land elementals, and at least two of the tests could have killed them. When they’d tried to go through the wall around Water Keep, Marcus had been turned into a fish.

  Kyja clutched Marcus’s broken staff as if she was prepared to threaten these creatures the same way she’d threatened the ishkabiddles. “Are you air elementals? Real air elementals? This isn’t another trick or joke or test?”

  Divum nodded, and a cloud of butterflies flew from her hair. “We are.”

  Marcus remembered the birds on the windowsill—the ones that sounded like they were laughing. “Were you in the castle when we were trying to talk to the ishkabiddles?”

  “We were.”

  “Then you know what we want,” Kyja said. “You know we need your help to open a doorway between Earth and Farworld.”

  Caelum and Divum looked at each other, both still smiling.

  “You think this is funny?” Marcus demanded. “Do you think it’s a big joke that we came all this way to ask for your help?”

  Caelum roared with laughter. He did a wild little jig, turning a circle as he danced. Inside his body, birds chirped and flew about, frogs jumped and croaked, flowers bloomed in wild profusion, sending their petals spinning into the air, before blooming again. “Of course it is.” He slapped his arms together like an alligator’s jaws. “Teeth of ice, racing snails, ishkabiddles on thrones. It’s a fine joke.”

  “One of the best I’ve heard in ages,” Divum agreed, covering her mouth.

  “Come on,” Kyja spun around. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Someone should lock them up in a deep, dark dungeon,” Riph Raph said. “They’re crazy as beetles in a brushfire.”

  Marcus turned away, the weight of failure dragging at his shoulders like a boulder. To have come all this way, to have passed all of their tests—for nothing—was worse than not having made it at all.

  “Wait,” the woman called. “Where are you going?”

  Kyja threw her stick to the ground. “What do you care? You’re not going to help us.”

  “We never said that.” Caelum sounded as close to serious as either of them had. Then, as though the man couldn’t stand to keep a straight face for long, he grinned and added, “Perhaps it was the ishkabiddle king who refused your request.”

  “I don’t understand,” Marcus said, turning back. He remembered how annoyed he’d been by Cascade’s missing sense of humor. The water elemental took everything literally, with no trace of emotion. Now Marcus wished he could get one of the Fontasian’s straight answers. “You laughed when we asked for your help. You said it was funny.”

  “But it is.” Divum tittered. She spread her arms, and the air filled with falling snow. Unlike ordinary snow, each tiny flake had the face of a man, woman, or child on it. “Life is funny. The struggles, the accomplishments, the triumphs, the failures.”

  “You laugh at people’s failures?” Kyja’s face scrunched in anger. “That’s horrible! What kind of monsters are you?”

  The male air elemental ran his frog fingers through his twig and leaf-filled hair as the snowflakes disappeared. “To not laugh at your own misfortunes, and those of others, would be to weep continually. A life like that would be . . . unbearable.” He raised his hands into claws, did an incredibly accurate impression of a bear’s growl, and chuckled.

  Marcus couldn’t understand these people—everything was a joke to them.

  But Kyja leaned over and whispered in his ear, “I don’t think they’re trying to be rude. I think it’s just the way they are. Their laughter is like the land elementals’ thirst for knowledge.” She turned to the Aerisians. “So will you help us?”

  Caelum looked at Divum and grinned. “I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”

  Marcus swept his hair out of his face. “What do you mean?”

  “Show them,” the man said.

  This time, Divum didn’t laugh. Instead, she puffed out her lower lip like a two-year-old who didn’t get a slice of birthday cake. “Must I?” She grinned impishly. “I could show them the courting rituals of a three-eyed long toe instead. They would laugh for hours.”

  Caelum began to chuckle, then shook his head. “No. They must see to understand.”

  “Fine.” The woman stomped her foot, making a blaze of colored flowers spread across the meadow around her.

  Suddenly, Marcus found himself suspended high in the air. Clouds floated by, and the trees below looked like toothpicks. He reached for something to grab on to and found only empty space. Kyja gripped his hand in hers.

  “What are you doing?” Marcus called to the air elementals floating beside them, wind blowing in his face. “Why did you bring us here?”

  Caelum pointed to their left. Kyja turned, and her face went white.

  Marcus looked down and felt his heart freeze in his chest. Terra ne Staric was laid out below them like a toy city. And it was under attack. Even from this distance, he could hear the muted crash of stone on stone and the rumble of timber being crushed. An army of brown giants pounded at the walls of the city, using tree trunks as battering rams and hurling boulders like baseballs.

  A small army of stone warriors and wizards, and a larger group of humans, stood against the giants, but it was clear they wouldn’t be able to hold the city for long. Even as Marcus watched,
a distant trumpet sounded, and a city gate collapsed.

  “Do something,” Marcus said to the elementals. “We have to help them.”

  “It’s not just this city,” Caelum said. He turned to the woman floating beside him, and she reluctantly raised an arm.

  The view changed. Now they were above a city on fire. From the thick stone walls, Marcus knew it had to be Icehold. Smoke billowed into the sky, turned bloodred by the fires. Black-cloaked wizards walked the streets, bringing carnage with every step, while undead creatures swarmed like ants. A great, red creature, which had to be Bonesplinter, screamed and rose into the sky. For a moment, Marcus was sure it looked straight at him. He felt the knot in his chest tighten, and he looked at Kyja. Tears were streaming down her face.

  “Would you help them, too?” the man asked, no humor at all in his voice.

  “Yes!” Marcus said at once. “Of course.”

  Divum raised her other arm, and they were floating above the Noble River. Except it was no longer the lazy brown snake Marcus and Kyja had floated down months earlier. Now it was a raging torrent that washed away villages and cities, flooding homes and carrying away those caught in its ruthless grip.

  “And these?” Caelum asked, pointing to those caught in the flood.

  Marcus wiped at his burning eyes.

  “How can this be happening?” Kyja said. “There’s a drought. There shouldn’t be nearly enough water for floods.”

  Caelum motioned to Divum, and Marcus looked down on a range of snowy peaks that had to be the Windlash Mountains. On the side of the mountain, a group of humans fought against a swarm of what looked like winged octopuses. One of the humans cast a spell that knocked a monster from the air, and the people attacked it with their spears and swords.

  “It’s not completely hopeless,” Marcus said. “They’re winning.”

  The ground began to shake. Part of the mountain broke away, sending boulders rolling onto the humans. As they turned to flee, the mountain itself cracked open, and the tiny figures plunged into a black crevice that closed over them.

  Marcus thought he could hear their screams; black despair filled him. How could things be this bad? How did the Dark Circle get so powerful? Farworld was being torn apart.

  “Stop,” Riph Raph said, turning away from the carnage.

  Kyja clenched her eyes shut and pressed her hands to her ears. “Make it go away.”

  Divum nodded, and they were back on the island. The Aerisian wiped at her eyes and tried to smile.

  “You see?” the man said. “Laughter is the only thing that keeps us from weeping.”

  Chapter 25

  Traitors?

  Kyja could only stare at the ground, tears running down her cheeks and blurring her vision. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to happen. She and Marcus were supposed to get the four elements together, create the drift, and save their worlds. The Dark Circle was supposed to be defeated.

  After that? She didn’t know. But she knew it wasn’t supposed to end like this. She’d seen what the Dark Circle was capable of, and she’d rather be dead than live in a world ruled by them.

  “Would you like to turn into snow monkeys and belly slide down a glacier?” Divum asked. “That always cheers me up.”

  “No.” Kyja wiped her face with her palms and took a deep, shuddering breath. “If you knew it was too late, why did you bring us here? You did bring us here, didn’t you?”

  “Technically, a snail brought you. Which seems shell-fishly slow,” Caelum chuckled.

  “No. Shellfish would be if they came by crab.” The woman clicked her fingers together like claws, and her hands turned into dozens of tiny red and blue crabs snapping and clacking their pincers.

  Kyja fumed. How could they laugh at a time like this? Did they have no sympathy at all?

  Caelum sighed. “We brought you here because you were looking for us.”

  “And we grew tired of waiting,” Divum added. She put out her arms and twirled like a child, her dress of leaves and butterflies poofing about her legs. “I hate waiting. It’s so dull.”

  Riph Raph leaned close to Kyja’s ear. “I still think they’re crazy.”

  Marcus rubbed his bad leg. “I don’t understand something. If all that terrible stuff is happening right now, why don’t I feel it? My body always hurts when Farworld is in danger. But I feel better than ever.”

  “You aren’t in Farworld.” Divum laughed. “Those boring land elementals and stodgy water elementals are part of Farworld. But we are above it all. Just like the fire elementals are—”

  Caelum looked at her, cutting off whatever she was about to say. “Air is a magic of time and place,” he said. “You are not in the same place as what you saw happening to your world. Nor are you in that time.”

  “Then what time are we in?” Marcus got a strange look on his face, and Kyja thought she saw something pass between him and the Aerisian.

  “Here you are in no time at all,” Caelum said. “If you return to your when and where, you would arrive just before you began your journey here.”

  “Oh, but don’t go!” Divum said. She spread her arms, and the group was in the glass castle again, which was restored completely to the way it had been. She sat on the throne, petting the crowned ishkabiddle. Caelum was now dressed in the same gold armor and sword the ishkabiddle soldiers had been wearing earlier. “It’s been so long since we’ve had guests,” Divum said. “We can play so many games together.”

  Kyja stepped forward. “You’re saying that if we go back to Farworld, it will be before we saw the snail tracks?” she asked, trying to understand.

  Caelum admired his armor and pulled his sword from its scabbard. “I do look dashing in gold, don’t I?” He clapped, and suddenly his whole body was made of gold. “Do you think I look silly?”

  “Only if it’s fool’s gold.” Divum giggled and grinned. All at once, she was made of glittering diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones. “Look, I am a gem and a jewel.” She smiled at Kyja. “Would you like to be a gem too? You’re not quite as polished as I am, but you could be a diamond in the rough.”

  “I don’t want to be anything but me.” Kyja fumed. “How long after we left Terra ne Staric will it be attacked?”

  If the Aerisians were upset by her outburst, they didn’t show it. “Two of your days. Maybe three,” the man said. He pulled out his sword, which was as golden as the rest of him, and said, “I have three golden arms.”

  Kyja chewed on her lip, thinking. “Three days. That’s enough time to warn the city of the attack and maybe even to stop it.”

  “But it’s not just Terra ne Staric that’s in trouble.” Marcus shook his head. “The Dark Circle seems to be everywhere. The floods and earthquakes. How did they do it? And what were those giants?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Caelum said. “I hope you don’t take offense, but humans seem a bit . . . scattered at times.” His golden arms and legs separated themselves from his torso and wandered leisurely around the throne room, while his head floated several inches above his neck.

  “Unfocused,” the woman agreed, becoming suddenly so fuzzy it hurt Kyja’s eyes to look at her.

  Caelum’s left arm returned to rub his chin. “How could mere humans harness such amazing powers?” his floating head asked. “It’s a bit of a puzzle.”

  Divum’s glittering gem body blew apart like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. “Oh, I love puzzles.”

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” Riph Raph said.

  “Would you stop fooling around?” Marcus demanded. “How are we supposed to think with you changing all the time?”

  The golden arm rubbing the Aerisian’s chin grabbed his head and offered it to Marcus. “Maybe another head would help?”

  “No thanks,” Marcus said, waving it away. “I think I’ll just use my own.”

  Divum’s body changed to a flock of birds. “Perhaps they need a hint,” she chirped. “What do quakes, floods, and
golems have in common?”

  “Is that what those giants were?” Marcus asked. “Golems?”

  Kyja tried to think. “They destroy things?”

  Riph Raph shuddered. “They are all things we should stay as far away from as possible. Which goes double for these lunatics, if you want my opinion.”

  “We don’t,” Marcus snapped. He whispered to Kyja, “What’s a golem?”

  In her search for air elementals, she’d learned a lot more about Farworld’s creatures than she ever imagined possible. “They’re magic creatures made out of dirt and water mixed into . . . That’s it!” She looked at the Aerisians with a grin. “They both have to do with land and water. Quakes come from land. Floods come from water. And golems come from land and water mixed together.”

  The birds making up the woman’s body chirped excitedly.

  “But what does that have to do with anything?” Marcus asked. “It doesn’t explain how the Dark Circle is creating so much damage.”

  “He’s slowwwww,” the Caelum said, and his body snapped back together, changing from gold to tiny snails, slugs, and turtles. “I think I’ll take a nap. Wake me up when he figures it out. At this rate, he’ll be an old man.”

  Kyja frowned. “I guess you could use water magic to make floods. But you’d still need enough water to do it. And there hasn’t been any rain for six months. Besides, all the wizards have been saying that water magic hasn’t been working very well.”

  “What?” Marcus asked, his face suddenly intense. “What’s that about water magic?”

  “It hasn’t been working,” Kyja said. “Water and land magic both. The spells have all been weak or useless.”

  “Really?” Marcus asked. “I thought it was just me. Or maybe it was because I was on Earth. I haven’t been able to cast almost any of the land or water spells Master Therapass gave me. And when I do, they’re weak. It was like the elementals themselves didn’t want me to use their magic.”