by Joshua Cook
“Heather! There you are.”
Heather looked at him with a somewhat bemused expression.
“Was I lost? I do have other things to do than lead you around like a child, Cendan.” The smile fell off Cendan’s face. Why had he been smiling anyways?
“Why are you here today, then? Throwing more shaded insults at me?” he threw back at her.
Heather paused and shook her head. “Sorry, Cendan, it’s not been a… good few days. And for you, it’s going to get worse.” Heather reached into a bag on the main workbench. “Remember when I met you? I told you two things that day. One was about the war between Grellnot and the Slyph. And rightfully, that is the main problem for all of us. But you, Cendan Key, still have another problem. One you’re going to need to fix and fix soon.”
Cendan frowned for a second. “Oh the Elves? Yeah, but I don’t see why that’s as big of a deal as everyone seems to think it is. The Elves are trapped on the Echo world, right? They can’t do anything to me, and they can’t come here. They’re powerless.”
The expressions on Heather and Xid’s face, however, didn’t seem to support this.
“No. They aren’t,” Heather replied. “I have to remember that you aren’t one of us; you don’t have a lot of experience dealing with the Echo world, or its creatures. Do you think it was chance the Elves found you? Just blind luck? They have been hunting for someone to get them around the Slyph’s ban for a long time, Cendan. I imagine a few subtle weavings were done on you the moment they detected you, to get you to them.”
“Weavings?” Cendan stopped her.
“Yeah, magic used on the Echo World is called a weaving. Not important, focus.” Heather retorted. “Remember, while the Elves were banned by the Slyph from coming here, they command a great deal of power on their own world. They were made to be like us, to need us, in many ways they are only second to the Slyph herself in raw power. Do you understand?”
Cendan shrugged. “Ok, so the Elves are powerful, but they can’t come here.”
Rolling eyes from Heather greeted that statement, and she was about to retort when Xid stopped her.
“Cendan. We know that Grellnot and the Slyph are about to have a showdown. The Elves are the premier spell casters of the Echo World. If they strike a deal with Grellnot, do you know how powerful that will make him? If Grellnot agrees to end their banishment in exchange for their help, there isn’t a place on the planet you could hide from them.”
Cendan hadn’t thought about it in that way and felt a wave of annoyance wash over him. He should have seen it.
“The Elves hate Grellnot, though,” he answered back. “But…”
Xid nodded. “But to get back to Earth? To end their banishment? That bargain is one they would even make with Grellnot. But if you fulfill it first, they can’t. They simply can’t. It’s hard wired into the Elves; once a bargain made is a bargain kept, the bargain can’t be redone.”
Cendan ran with it. “So if I fulfill my bargain, the Elves can’t make a deal with Grellnot. And the only thing they would want is to end their banishment. But, say I make a new Bridge for them to use. Can’t they still make a deal with Grellnot to fix the Bridge in their settlement? The one I used to come home? It still works; they just can’t use it.”
“No. Not if you attach your Bridge end point to their Bridge,” Heather answered. “And you are on short notice, Cendan. A Bridge formed elsewhere here in the Rivenwood. A Bridge that a Scowler came through and delivered this; for you.”
Heather pulled a hood out of the bag that she’d had her hand in. A hood. A hood from one of the women in the Elven village. His stomach still lurched at the thought of those women.
“It’s a message of sorts for you. Time is short.” Heather threw the hood at him.
“You know what this is, Heather? Xid? You know what the Elves want?” Cendan held the hood with a sense of dread. “If I help them, they are going to take women from this world, and I… I don’t know what they do to them but they use them to…”
Heather nodded. “I’m aware. Some may welcome that fate, who knows. But I know.”
Xid, grim faced, added, “It was a foolish bargain to make, to agree to bring them back to this world, to take young women off to be used as nothing more than brood stock.”
The air went out of Cendan then. It had been a foolish deal. He hadn’t known what it meant. But a bargain was a bargain. He was going to consign an unknown number of women and girls to a fate that was beyond anything he’d ever thought of. Damn fool bargain. Bargain. An idle thought stirred.
“Wait…” Cendan found a bench and sat down. What had been the exact words of the bargain? He had promised to find them a way into this world. That was what they had wanted, what they still wanted.
A small smile broke across his face and grew.
“Quick, is there a fast way to travel using magic? I mean, say you wanted to go to Rome? Hawaii? Sweden? It doesn’t matter, just is there a way to travel very fast?” Xid and Heather paused and exchanged glances.
“You can’t run away from this, Cendan,” Heather replied.
Xid added in, “Nor would we let you. You must fulfill your end of the bargain.”
“No. You don’t understand, just answer the question. I’m not running.” Cendan was grinning widely now. “So, is there a way?”
Xid slowly nodded. “Yes, but it has drawbacks. And it’s taxing; we don’t use that pattern much.” Heather had a somewhat surprised look and glanced at Xid.
“There is? I was never shown that.”
Xid waved her off. “It’s a Gardener thing. Non-creators can’t even use the pattern.”
Lips pursed, Heather looked at Xid with annoyance, but said nothing else. Cendan, still grinning, threw her a thumbs up.
“Ok. So teach me about Bridges. Then teach me the pattern for this travel thing. You can even come with me; I don’t care.”
Heather broke in. “What is going on in that head of yours? You’re acting a little… out of sorts.”
Cendan shrugged. “I think I’ve found a way to fix my Elven issue. Just like you all wanted. And me too for that matter.”
Two hours later, Cendan had the basics of the pattern for Bridges down, including how to tie a Bridge to an existing Bridge on the Echo World. Heather and Xid once again remarked on how fast he was picking this up.
“It took me nearly a month to get Bridges down, Cendan, and you’re doing this in hours,” Heather said, the tone of annoyance back in her voice. “How can you be doing this so fast?”
Cendan just shrugged. “Patterns and systems come to me naturally. This is just another system.”
Gardener Xid looked at Cendan and sighed. “I expect you want me to show you this travel thing now? It will exhaust you for nearly a day to travel that way, and to come back.”
Cendan nodded, then paused. “Can you bring someone else with you? Like, could I take Heather somewhere?”
Laughter erupted from Heather at that.
“Want me to run away with you now, Cendan? First you get mad about me cutting out the mess of dating and wot-not with magic, and now you want me to run away with you?”
That faded Cendan’s smile. “No. I need to know is all. I have no desire to run away with you, Heather. None. And I never will.”
Heather’s laugh slowly died out, and she looked away.
Xid sighed. “Children. Yes, but only if they have the creator knack. So you could take me, or I could take you.” Cendan shifted his attention back to Xid.
“Ok so if I have you take me elsewhere; can you bring us both back here?”
The Gardener shifted from foot to foot. “Yes. But I’d be useless the next day.” Cendan nodded and rubbed his face.
“Ok then. I have a plan. Based on what I promised Lachnin, based on the words of our bargain, I promised Lachnin that I would create a Bridge or item that allowed them to come back to our world. But I never said where. I never said it would be any place useful. I never said it woul
d have people on it.”
Cendan blurted out, “If I rejoin the Bridge that they have to a location out in the middle of nowhere, an atoll in the south pacific somewhere, I will have fulfilled my bargain.”
A look of grudging respect came over Heather’s face.
“That is actually a good plan.” Gardener Xid nodded as well.
“You know that that won’t totally stop them though, Cendan. The elves can work magic,” Xid reminded him.
Cendan nodded. “I know. But can they work our magic? Meaning, the magic of our world?” Xid shook her head.
“No, they’d have to draw through the Bridge to weave anything.”
Cendan nodded. “I hoped so. So they’d be out in the middle of nowhere, with little magic, but they’d still be here, and I will have bought time and potentially removed them from the equation in terms of Grellnot.”
Heather shrugged. “It’s a decent plan. Far better than doing nothing.”
Gardener Xid nodded as well. “It buys us time. I don’t like the idea of being exhausted tomorrow, but it gives you time, and by extension all of us.”
Xid checked a clock on the wall.
“It’s close to noon now. I need two hours to prepare. Can I meet you in the training field at two?”
Cendan nodded. “Heather, are you coming to see us off?”
Heather, who had been looking at Xid with an expression of confusion, glanced at Cendan with a smile
“Sure. Why not? If only to see this Gardener-only pattern.”
Xid grunted as she stood. “See you at two then.” Xid headed for the door leading outside. Heather watched her go and turned to Cendan.
“That’s odd. Patterns don’t require…” She trailed off. “Never mind, just… I’ll see you at two.” Heather turned and followed Xid out the door.
Cendan muttered, “People. Never make any damn sense.” And with that, he returned to his room to practice more patterns. At least those made sense.
________
Gardener Xid approached the wood quickly. Turning through it, she headed towards a far corner. She paused in front of a hemlock tree, large and majestic.
“I can’t commune, I’m being followed. The Bridgefinder is getting more powerful. If we are going to stop him, it needs to be soon.”
________
At exactly two pm, Cendan, Heather and Gardener Xid met at the practice field. It had only been a few days since Cendan had been there last, but it seemed like a near eternity. He had learned so much, seen more of the power of magic than he had even imagined. Even in the few hours since he’d seen the other two, he’d figured out a new pattern in the stored ones in the Key, one that would allow him to mirror another pattern! As long as it was cast within minutes of that pattern.
He’d had fun with that, creating mirrors of mirrors with the lights he’d summoned in his little room in the workshop. The mirrors didn’t last long; unlike a normal pattern these fell apart on their own fairly fast, but still, it was fun to play with. He’d also spent a few minutes before coming over finding an appropriate anchor for his plan. Bridges, permanent ones at least, needed to be anchored, according to Xid. He’d chosen a fairly heavy stone block. It wouldn’t get blown away in the wind, or easily washed away; that was the hope at least. And if it did, well, the Elves’ Bridge would open up into the ocean, and still he would fulfill his bargain.
He’d found a small atoll in the South Pacific Ocean. Small, uninhabited, not even a tree on it. A spit of sand and small brush. At least the nearly decade old book, an actual old school encyclopedia, had described it as such. At first he’d found the book amusing, but quickly realized this was needed in places like this. Magic didn’t seem to mix super well with modern technology, or at least no one had tried, so things like actual encyclopedias were useful.
Heather stood off to one side, but uncharacteristically, looked somewhat concerned. Her eyes never left Xid, watching every move she made. Xid didn’t notice though Cendan noticed the occasional twitch in her hands as she began to gather the surrounding magic.
“This isn’t an easy pattern, Cendan. Please don’t attempt this on your own,” Xid remarked. She was right, Cendan could see. The points of magic were flowing around her, folding in on themselves and her in a mind bending way.
“A tube?” Cendan asked out loud though he wasn’t sure whom he was talking to.
“Sort of. In the most basic terms, the pattern folds the space between us and the destination in a very small localized area, and forms a tube for us to travel through,” Xid answered through her teeth. The strain was obvious as sweat formed on her brow, even despite the cool air of Rivenwood. “Quickly, the destination.”
Cendan nodded. “I have a set of coordinates…”
Xid cut him off. “Useless. Form the destination in your mind and grab my arm. But be clear in your thoughts!”
Cendan felt a thrill of fear race up his spine, but squelched it. Forming a picture of the atoll he’d found, he grabbed Xid’s arm. The feeling of travel was very unlike the transitions he’d felt when going to the Echo World, or when he’d entered or left the Bridgefinders lair. This was on the edge of extreme pain, and it lasted far longer than the other transitions. He alternately felt like his skin was going to get worn off, or his hair would get ripped out. The wind that blew through the tunnel with them was more than intense and pushing against it forced him into some unusual contortions.
Chapter 18
Just as suddenly as it started, however, it ended. Bright warm light enveloped them as Cendan blinked a few times. The salt air greeted his sense of smell, just as the waves greeted his ears. They had, in all appearances, made it. Taking a moment to take it all in, Cendan could understand why that method of travel was rarely used. It was one of the more unpleasant things he’d ever done. Parts of his skin, the exposed parts at least, were still aching from the battering they’d received; and they still had to go back! Xid didn’t seem to be much better; her eyes were still closed as she breathed in and out slowly.
“Xid? You ok?” Cendan asked. He’d liked to think they were becoming friends. She had taught him a lot, and while not warm per se, she was highly competent. A trait that, to Cendan, was far too underrated.
“Yes, just hadn’t done that in quite some time. I had forgotten how intense that pattern can be,” Xid answered. Her eyes cracked open a bit as she shaded her view with her hand. “Well it appears you held the image well. Nice place you picked,” Xid said, as she looked around.
“Thanks. It’s out in the middle of nowhere in the ocean. It’s not even visited by research ships. The closest landmass is nearly a thousand miles from here. The Elves can come here and make sand castles for all I care. I will have fulfilled my end of the bargain, at any rate.” Cendan took the heavy square stone out of his pocket. It wasn’t especially large, the size of a small box, but it was far heavier than it looked.
“Next time, ask before you take something from the workshop, Cendan.” Xid pointed at the stone. “I don’t have a lot of that left. You can use it, but… next time ask.”
Cendan nodded in assent and walked toward what was roughly the middle of this tiny sand island. No real animal life, other than feathers from birds, and what appeared to be a long dead sea-turtle shell. As he had hoped, pretty empty and barren. He made a small mound of sand and placed the soon to be anchor stone on top.
“Ok, so I’ll connect the Bridge from here to the Elven village in the Echo. I assume they will know something is up, so they may head this way. I expect that they won’t be terribly happy with this resolution, so we will need to leave fast. Are you ready to travel back? I mean, are you too tired? Do you need me to wait?”
“No. I’m fine. The way back is easier anyway, and before you ask, no I don’t know why. It just is.”
Cendan nodded and smiled at her response. Since he’d met her, he must have asked her why about thirty times a day on anything and everything she had taught him.
“Ok then, let’s get t
his done,” Cendan said squaring his shoulders. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was, arguably, going to be the toughest pattern he’d ever attempted. He knew he could do it; he had to do it. There was no room for doubt here.
Opening himself up to the sight, the specks and points of light around him showed the magic overlaying everything. Less than in Rivenwood for sure, but enough for what he needed to do here. Reaching out, he started gathering the magic slowly and carefully. Specks became points, which became blobs of magic, rainbow colored and flashing in his magic sight.
“Good; careful and slow,” Xid commented from beside him, watching him work. Finally, after far more time than he thought it should take, he felt like he had enough to work the pattern.
Reaching out, he began to form the pattern for the Bridge, open ended for now, but still the pattern. As more and more points fell into it, the spiral of the Bridge formed in the air, slowly rotating. Satisfied with the Bridge itself, Cendan knew that the hard part came now. He had to split his concentration, one part keeping the pattern in place for the Bridge, and one to charge block of stone he had brought; to tie the Bridge to it.
“You are ready,” Xid whispered, shoring up the tiny ribbon of doubt he had started to feel.
Paying attention to both things at once had been hard to do before in the workroom, and this was just as difficult, if not more so. Blotting out everything else – the sound of the waves, the feeling of the breeze on his skin, even the sound of his breathing – Cendan reached out to the block as-well. Slowly feeding magic into the brick, he formed a new smaller pattern that would tie the block to the raw stuff of magic here. The points of light did not want to go into the block, but they never did. Finding the right amount of force, but not too much, was just as Xid had said; one of the hardest skills in all of this. And one that those who were Creators – call them Makers or Gardeners – were uniquely talented for.
With a snap, the magic stopped fighting him, and with a vibration he swore he heard, flew through the block as if they had always been there.