by Joshua Cook
Oh they’d known there were individuals here and there, but a whole magical secret society? Her doubt was met, however, with the apparent truthfulness of this by the mere fact of Heather’s existence. Heather was far more than some crazy witch making deals with creatures of the Slyph. She had abilities that Jasmine didn’t understand. And with great reluctance, she knew they were magic. Just as she knew whatever Marcus had done; that had been magic as well.
An edge of concern crept into her thoughts however, Heather and Cendan had spent the night here at Cendan’s house? Why did she care about that? Cendan was a grown man, he could do what he wanted. He had saved her and she wanted him to be happy, but with this woman? This… witch? She had no claim on him, that was in the past, but still. Jasmine mentally shook herself, this wasn’t the time to worry about this.
Her childhood training notwithstanding, it was obvious that magic was real, and that she and the other Bridgefinders could and were using magic. It was a strange thought, and one that deep down gave her a small thrill.
“So, Cendan… How do we get him out?” Jasmine asked point blank. “We will need him if there ever is an attack by Grellnot.”
“We may, and just may be able to get in with outside help, but I’m not sure.” Heather paused and held up her hand. “Do you feel that?” Screams erupted from outside as Heather and Jasmine ran outside. Bridges. Bridges everywhere. Creatures, the like that neither had ever seen, came rushing out mixed with things they had fought many a time.
“We need help!” Jasmine yelled as years of training took over. She was tired, and not really ready for this, but she was a Bridgefinder. This was her job! Heather stood and nodded. Her eyes closed and then opened.
“The Shrouded are coming to help!” Jasmine and Heather ran down to the nearest Bridge, and closed it, banishing creatures left and right.
“Too many!” Jasmine yelled. Heather nodded. This was madness. A man appeared nearby, with four others, all gasping. Heather recognized them all.
“Whoop! Help has arrived!” Heather yelled as she sent a goblin howling back through the nearest Bridge. Her elation was short lived, however. An attack of this scale could only mean one thing. Grellnot had won.
Across the city, The Shrouded responded. Fighting off creatures and sealing Bridges. They weren’t Bridgefinders, and it took more of them to do it. They still, however, weren’t willing to let Grellnot win. Many a small prayer of thanks was said to the EVA machine of the Bridgefinders’, in contrast to their normal curses. The day would have been unwinnable if the bridges hadn’t been contained.
As it was, they held their own for now. Though losses happened. A person here, a face there, broken by a lumbering giant. A young witch speared by a gremlin’s poison tipped dart. But they held. But where was Grellnot? Where was the leader of this madness at?
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A sound that shook his bones went off in the lair, forcing Cendan to steady himself. He had nearly knocked the plate onto the floor. That sound? What had that been? He took one last bite of his food, and raced toward EVA, the only place he knew of that could make something like that. It was an alarm, something was happening, something bad!
“EVA?” he reached out in his mind, pulling every ounce of spare strength into the message, trying to break through the fog that covered the link between him and the clockwork intelligence. Fear. Fear blossomed across the link. Fear and hate. Cendan immediately thought of Marcus; what was he doing? Bursting into the main room for EVA, however, everything looked the same as before. Still a mess, but nothing else. No damage; no new changes at all.
The sound went off again, nearly deafening him.
“EVA?” He tried to break through one last time. A glimpse of a face was all he got, but that glimpse was enough. Grellnot. Cendan’s stomach fell, as fear rose. He worked to calm himself. There was only one answer for this, one reason. Grellnot had won. The Slyph, the threat that had motivated generations of Bridgefinders, was defeated. Knowing Grellnot, probably dead.
Grellnot now had the power of the Echo World, all the power. If EVA was sensing it, however, the chances were that Grellnot was attacking, and here he was, stuck in the Bridgefinders headquarters. Stuck with Marcus. He slammed his hand against the nearest wall. He shouldn’t be in here. He should be out helping Jasmine, Heather, whoever else. He hoped the Shrouded would help, even in the face of the factions that wanted to end the Bridgefinders. Grellnot was a greater threat.
“Marcus! I know you can hear me. We have to get out, Grellnot has won. The Slyph is defeated! You know what Grellnot is capable of, you know its ways. We need to help!” Cendan yelled out, hoping Marcus was paying attention. “Marcus, this is crazy!” he called out again, but only got silence in return. Anger gave Cendan extra energy, and he ran towards the exit, determined to break out.
He threw everything he could at the transition point. Patterns that he didn’t even know what they did, all to no avail. Unless Marcus let him out, he wasn’t leaving. Which meant Jasmine, Heather, and anyone else were going to have to do this without him. Even worse, the everyday people, the ‘normal’ people, were going to die, get hurt, get scared and terrorized.
Cendan slumped down in the hallway. What did Marcus want? Why him? He’d attacked, but still never said what it was he wanted. What could he do? For once, Cendan had no answers. He was at a dead end branch and stuck.
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Marcus raged in a forgotten back corner of the Garden. He’d had the traitor Cendan all to himself. No one to help him, no tricks, and yet he still couldn’t destroy him! Somehow the fool had managed to withstand the Keystone. No one should be able to withstand the Keystone! Screaming and reaching out with his new power, He destroyed a swathe of vegetation, burning it down to the roots.
How? How had the traitor beaten him? He stopped and whirled around. He’d had help. He must have had help. That’s it. That’s the only way. Marcus was unstoppable here, but if Cendan Key had made a deal with the Slyph, given himself to her, her power might be enough to delay Marcus. That was it, Cendan was even more of a traitor. Now not just a betrayer of the Bridgefinders, but of the whole human race. The whole world!
Hate burned in Marcus. So if Cendan was working with the Slyph, then Marcus needed help too. Who could help him? Jasmine? No, she refused to see the truth. Ran from it. Stupid woman. Why didn’t she see how much she meant to him? How important she was? Together they could have raised a new generation of Bridgefinders, challenged the Echo World itself! Instead, she’d chosen to turn her back on him.
He would get her back. Her escape had only been temporary. Her and that witch; what had they called her ... Heather? They would come back for Cendan. He knew it. Once they did, they’d fall back under his control. This time it would be different. This time Jasmine would love him. Heather would too. She was a witch, but still, they needed more Bridgefinders. They would both love him.
Marcus giggled as he stood; they would both be his. But first, Cendan Key. He needed that focus, he had to have it. Cendan must know about the lock, about the breaking of the bindings. That’s why he kept it away from Marcus all those times, before Marcus knew the truth. Cendan had been in league with the Slyph even then, he was sure of it!
He needed an ally. Who could help him? Who hated the Slyph just as much as he did? Hated Cendan? The name came to him. It was obvious. Cendan reached out and lowered the barrier that kept the creatures of the Echo world out. There was only one ally, only one that he could use to rid himself of Cendan Key, forever.
Chapter 23
Grellnot ripped the throat out of a wizard, his claws bloody again. Grellnot roared with delight as it felt the magic leave the man in front of him. Grellnot feasted on the magic. It was all Grellnot wanted; it soothed its hunger if only for a moment. So hungry, so very hungry. Grellnot’s creatures were dropping here and there, but Grellnot did not care.
Its creatures; their creatures. All were meat, and all were food to Grellnot. A long sniff and Grellnot whi
rled around. Grellnot wanted that stupid Maker. It had not forgotten the pain and embarrassment of failing to before. Not that Grellnot had cared what the Slyph had thought; Grellnot had been denied. Grellnot didn’t like being denied.
Grellnot couldn’t sense the Maker though. It could smell that other Bridgefinder, the woman one. And another woman, who smelled a bit like the Maker, but not exactly. The others, the Shrouded, Grellnot ignored. Grellnot had known of the Shrouded for years. Hiding things; silly humans. They were easy food for Grellnot.
Grellnot cast a wider net, still searching. Its hunger grumbled; always the hunger. A glimmer appeared in its awareness. Something was calling Grellnot. Peering with the sight, Grellnot saw an in-between place. A place Grellnot didn’t know. The call came again. Wordless, but a call. Grellnot tried to ignore it, but the call became stronger.
“What do you want from Grellnot!” it screamed, holding its head.
The answer came quickly. Grellnot stood still and laughed. This place, this was where that stupid human Maker was hiding!
“You can’t hide from Grellnot!” Dancing in a shuffling gait, Grellnot celebrated. Grellnot would end both the Slyph and the Maker the same day! It vanished, Grellnot’s desire for revenge over riding its desire to kill for the moment.
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Cendan stood slowly, feeling defeated. He hated this feeling. He normally knew what to do. He prided himself on finding a way, a path forward. Marcus hadn’t beaten him in the sense of what he had tried to do earlier. But a stalemate, especially here, wasn’t a winning proposition for Cendan. He didn’t even know where Marcus was. That Keystone allowed him to hide anywhere in the place.
Worse yet, Grellnot had won. He was sure of it. Grellnot, with all the power it had, was a terrifying prospect.
“Marcus! We should be out there, defending our world. Not stuck in here, trapped. You swore to defend this world from the Echo world, from the creatures and plans of the Slyph! How is this doing that?” Cendan yelled out once more.
Silence greeted him, and the transition point remained quiet, blocked. Cendan was frustrated, and angry. Stalking his way back to the kitchen, he slumped down in a chair, unsure of what else he could do. He tried to calm himself and banish the emotions that were currently clouding his thoughts. Be logical he berated himself.
Firstly, he was trapped in the lair with Marcus. Marcus was over the top, totally insane. Marcus wanted something from him. He had no idea what. Grellnot had most likely won and was attacking the human world. Cendan couldn’t leave because Marcus had effectively locked the door with that damned Keystone. Without the Keystone, Marcus wouldn’t be able to stop him.
So he needed to know more about the Keystone. There had to be a way to stop it, destroy it, nullify it, something! He needed knowledge. And there was only one place he might get it, and that was in the Maker wing. Sitting here feeling sorry for himself wasn’t going to get it done. Cendan stood and took off at a brisk pace. There had to be something there; anything would help.
Cendan was halfway to his goal when he heard it, a low throaty laugh; a laugh he’d heard only once before. A laugh that made him freeze. Grellnot. Grellnot was here! But where? And how? How could Grellnot have gotten in? Where was he? Cendan reached out with his sight; maybe Grellnot would show up somehow. His faith was well placed.
Grellnot was in the Garden! To his sight, Grellnot showed up as an empty hole, a space where magic seemed to flow in and vanish. Without considering any other options, Cendan sprinted to the Garden, bursting the doors open.
Grellnot stood over the bloodied body of Marcus.
“Stupid Finder. Bringing Grellnot here. Grellnot not help you!” it screamed at the still form. Grellnot raised its head and looked at Cendan. “Ah, the stupid human Maker. Grellnot find youuuu!” Its tongue reached out and licked blood off a long dirty claw. “Grellnot look for you. Grellnot search.” Turning, the creature kicked the body of Marcus. “This one bring me here; this one think Grellnot help him kill you.”
“Grellnot not need any help. Grellnot eat him, and Grellnot eat YOU!” Grellnot turned back to Cendan. “Do you know stupid human? Do you know what Grellnot has done?”
Cendan paused, trying to make sense of all this. Marcus had brought Grellnot here? To kill Cendan? That hadn’t worked out for Marcus, apparently. Grellnot had attacked him the moment he’d gotten in.
“You uh ... defeated the Slyph?” Cendan asked, trying to bide some time while he thought of a plan.
“Defeat? Grellnot eat the Slyph!” the creature yelled back. “Eat her magic, her power. Grellnot has that power now. Grellnot rules the Echo World now!”
Cendan swallowed. The greatest fear they had thought of had happened. Grellnot, the walking thing of hunger, was now more powerful than it had ever been.
“Now, Grellnot, you know you can’t hurt me…” Cendan stated, knowing that wasn’t most likely true anymore.
Grellnot laughed again. “Stupid Maker. Grellnot could not hurt you before. But Grellnot is more now, Grellnot stronger now.” Cendan looked at Grellnot, and could see just how true that was. While the magic didn’t seem to flow inside the thing – that was where the near black hole of power was – the outside edge was alight with power. Threads thick and strong, interwoven with the points of light of the magic of this world. Magic that was the legacy of its hunts, all those Bridgefinders it had eaten, all that power it had absorbed.
Even by its creation, born of the mix of powers between the Slyph and the unwilling Oakheart. Grellnot was powered by both worlds. It had to be. Its existence owed itself to the fact that both worlds’ power was used. If only there was a way to cut it off from one world, remove one world’s magic…
Cendan paused. Rivenwood. His focus! What had the Shrouded told him? His focus had been Oakheart’s. It was bonded to him now, but it had chunks of Oakheart’s knowledge, his essence, embedded in the very metal it was made of. If Grellnot had been born of Oakheart and the Slyph’s power, then maybe, just maybe…
He peered deeper at the thick corded magic that made up the outside of Grellnot. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but this was his only chance. Grellnot was still watching him with an expression of anger, and he didn’t know when the thing would leap. But out of the corner of his awareness, he saw it. The soft spot! That one speck, the one fuzzy little speck of magic. Could he do it? Could he unravel the very essence of Grellnot?
Grellnot spat. “Stupid human not talking. Maker up to something. Grellnot not give human that chance!” Cendan fell to one knee as he felt something pull at his soul. So like the first time he’d been attacked by this thing, but stronger, so much stronger. Pain shot through his head and chest, his hands grasping the air, trying to find purchase on something, anything to steady himself.
But if Grellnot was stronger, so was Cendan. Even with his recent fight with Marcus, he had been working on his defenses, working to buffer himself against magic. Grellnot could hurt him and hurt him badly. But he couldn’t kill him, not this way. Slowly Cendan raised his head, teeth gritted to lock eyes with this demented creature. Grellnot spat and bit the air, frustration writ large. Cendan was defying the all-powerful Grellnot!
With a scream, Grellnot leapt, his hunger pushing him. Cendan had only a second to react but managed to grab his arms as Grellnot abandoned the magic attack and fell back to the physical. “Grellnot just kill you the old way.” The thing said, its face inches from Cendan’s. Its breath reeked of rot and mold, and older foul things. If he hadn’t been so busy trying to stay alive Cendan would have retched his stomach out at the smell.
“GRELLNOT WILL WIN!” The scream came from his assailant, as Cendan felt his physical strength starting to weaken. While not exactly a weakling, he wasn’t well versed in hand to hand combat with a short nearly demonic eating machine. He had to do something, and fast. He could feel Grellnot gather its power for another physical assault.
At that moment, Cendan reached out, and with all his strength, pulled
the soft spot, yanking it out of the pattern. Pain. Pain like no other blew through Cendan. Heather had tried to warn him how much this hurt, but this was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He could feel his mind twisting, stretching. His mouth opened to scream, but no sound emerged.
“Peace, Cendan Key.” Sudden peace overcame him… That voice, was Oakheart’s! “You have fulfilled my greatest wish; to see the end of my cursed child. The threat of Grellnot is over. I am just a wisp of a memory, a message left to see if it could happen.” The pain left him as he watched Grellnot mid-leap. The threads of magic flittered off, unraveling.
Grellnot fell off of Cendan, screaming.
“Grellnot is all! Gellnot is power!” it screamed as it held itself. “What did the Maker do?” Grellnot yelled as it watched its power fall away, faster and faster. The very magic that made it fell into clumps, sloughed off and vanished. The magic that gave it life, drifting away.
“I unmade you Grellnot. I ripped the magic of my world out of you,” Cendan said, his body tired, fighting off the exhaustion that threatened to overcome him. “You are gone.”
Grellnot writhed on the floor, the pain of its unmaking too great to stand. Cendan watched as the magic left him, his power reducing faster and faster.
“Hunnnggrrryyy…” A whisper came from Grellnot, and then it was no more. A pile of greasy rags and the necklace of foci glinting in the light was all that was left. Cendan wanted to celebrate; he had ended the threat of Grellnot forever! His focus clattered to the floor, the sound of metal ringing in the empty space.
So tired. He reached out to grab something to steady himself, but blackness claimed him, and his body collapsed on the floor.