Why won’t Papa wake up? Why did Auntie Sovvan go away? Why couldn’t she stay with me?
Auntie Sovvan, Ran said her name in his mind because the words wouldn’t come out. The promise had gagged him, and now it was dragging him but gently, like the way Papa’s magic used to nudge him out of its way. But he didn't want to go, so he gripped Papa’s arm and held fast.
“Hide, hide, hide,” urged the promise, sounding a lot like Papa.
But Papa was unconscious, and his clothes were cold and wet. Ran’s were getting wet too. The promise had lain hold of his ankles, and it was tugging him into the surf sloshing over the rocky shore.
I am hiding; Ran told the promise, but it wouldn’t listen. Whoever’s coming won’t see me. Papa is awfully big, and we’re both wearing dark green.
The variegated greens of Papa’s tunic and trousers were the Rangers’ version of forest camouflage. Ran almost smiled as he remembered toddling up to his crouching Papa holding a set of worn out ‘Rangers’ greens’ and demanded his own set. Papa had been dumbfounded by the request, but Mama had thought it a fine idea, and she’d made it happen.
Ran touched his tunic. It was one of Papa’s castoffs, abandoned after a recent growth spurt had rendered it too small. There used to be magic in its cloth, but it was gone, eaten by the same magic-stealing mist that was billowing up through the hole in the ceiling. It was also crawling along the shore, drawing ever nearer, but it couldn’t hurt Papa anymore. Can it hurt me?
Ran put that question aside and focused on holding on. His hands were cold and losing their grip on Papa. The promise plucked at his fingers. No, no, no, I want to stay with Papa.
But the promise was implacable. It refused to be thwarted. Ran willed his fingers to hold tight, but they were numb and losing sensation, and he was sliding, and his hands were dragging uselessly along the ground unable to grab hold of anything.
A stranger was coming. His footsteps were tentative. Maybe he could help Papa. Ran opened his mouth to call out, but the promise covered his mouth with invisible hands, muffling him.
Before his legs slid under the cold water, his hands caught on Papa’s cloak. It was soaked, but if he could scurry under it, he’d be close to Papa and out of sight. If the promise would let him. It pried his cold, numb hands free and yanked Ran behind a chunk of a once-radiant lumir crystal mosaic. Since there were no mosaics in the Lower Quarters, it must have fallen from an upper floor.
How long are those tentacles? I should have asked Auntie Sovvan before she disappeared.
Ran peeked around the stone and caught sight of a gray-haired man. The same one he and Papa had run into several times over the last day. Papa had called that man something that began with a ‘J’—Jersten, maybe. They’d been running from monsters at the time, so names hadn’t been important, but they were now.
Ran opened his mouth again to call for help, but the promise locked down his ability to speak. Ran pawed at his throat. He could breathe but not talk, and that was disconcerting because he liked to talk. But breathing was nice, so he was glad he could still do that.
Maybe this is why Papa is so quiet. Because his magic won’t let him talk. Well, I won’t let it do that anymore. Papa needs to be more talkative.
Jersten was only ten yards away now. He’d dropped to his hands and knees to clamber over the oval, cracked base of what had been the statue installation Ran had hidden behind not so long ago. There was something off about him.
Ran studied the man as he came within the nimbus of white light cast by Papa’s pendant. Something definitely wasn’t right about Jersten. Ran inched forward determined to work out what was wrong with the man, and the promise allowed it. It crouched over him like an invisible guard and firmed its grip on him, so it could whisk him to safety if things went pear-shaped, and they did.
A shadow walked in lock-step with Jersten, and it was hungry. That was all Ran saw before the promise dragged him behind the severed torso of a statue. It, too, was headless, and Ran shivered at the sight. That could have happened to him if Auntie Sovvan hadn’t caught him. I owe her a thousand hugs for that save.
Ran was now behind and off to the side of Papa. He could just make out a figure stooping over Papa, but not what the man was doing. The cold surf rolled over the lower half of his body, and he shivered when the tide went out again. Black squiggly things crowned Jersten’s graying head, and the shadows flocked to him as he reached for Papa.
Uh-oh, the Adversary’s found us. The promise yanked Ran further behind the headless statue, and he swallowed a mouthful of water before it let him surface. He was thoroughly drenched now, and his teeth chattered. I wish Bear were here.
As if summoned by the thought of him, Bear flopped into Ran’s outstretched hand, but its ghost still wasn’t inside it. Where are you Bear? Why aren't you here where we need you? We’re in an awful lot of trouble. Ran pillowed his head on his wet stuffed animal’s tummy to wait for the promise to let go, or Papa to wake up.
Into the Ravine
[Somewhere near Mount Eredren]
“Smart move dunking that troublesome gem. Who knew it had issues with water, eh? I wish I brought a bucket,” Snake Woman said.
Aralore spun on her heel and brought her sword up. Where had that creature come from? Snake Woman winked at her as she dropped into a crouch and none too soon. A black beam shot over her bald head narrowly missing that abomination. It eviscerated several snakes and caught Nim full in the chest. His eyes bulged as his spirit ripped free from his disintegrating body. Only six acolytes were left now.
“No!” Aralore shouted as she, too, dropped to the ground, skinning her knees. But it was too late. Nim was dead.
Another beam narrowly missed her shoulder as she rolled along the edge of the ravine. Below, a narrow white-capped river roiled as more beams shot out in all directions, creating the illusion that a black star was breaching the surface. A gray funnel of water and magic swirled around that deadly stone.
“You fool, you super-charged that thing.”
Snake woman pushed up from her crouch as those killer rays seemed to shorten. Or perhaps it was the distance they had to travel which had lengthened.
Aralore stared at them, not daring to move in case this was a ruse. Only the devil knew what strange powers his rock possessed.
“You know this land better than I do. Is there a river down there? Is that what I’m looking at?”
Startled by the question, Aralore nodded. “Many rivers feed the Nirthal. This might be one of them.”
There was definitely a current, and it was tugging the black lumir crystal away from the rocky slope it had bounced down, slowly lengthening its searching beams until it could no longer reach them.
“Thanks for the geography lesson. Well, it’s been fun. Enjoy my parting gift.”
Snake Woman ripped off her arm and threw it at Aralore. Mid-air, it dissolved into three very angry snakes as that abomination loped down a rocky slope.
Aralore dodged the incoming snakes. They landed where she’d been squatting, but three quick slashes beheaded them before she turned to follow that Snake Woman’s lead.
I must reach that damned stone before it floats into the River Nirthal. Fangs pierced her boot and grazed her ankle, but they didn't draw blood. Aralore cut that snake's head off too then slashed at two more. Their severed heads made a satisfying thunk, but the snakes kept coming in slithering waves. Were they regenerating or something? Where in the hell did that snaky abomination get them from?
A white gleam caught her eye, and she turned aside. Velor’s sword sliced another snake in half. Somnya stabbed two more with her sais then sprang after another one.
“Forget those snakes. We must get that crystal and contain it somehow. We can’t let her take it.”
Velor waved. “Go, we’ll be right behind you.”
Aralore turned, sword in hand. Its steel smile gave her pause. She was breaking one of the forest’s three rules, but most of the trees within a mile radiu
s of her were in no condition to enforce them. They lay like a pile of dropped sticks, and their bark was graying and lifting away in the breeze like the enchanted chaff they were.
Good riddance. She slammed her heel down on one of those behemoth’s branches. It was the width of her waist, but it didn’t budge.
In the distance, its brethren shifted. With the black lumir crystal now floating away from her, they had no reason to fear her. She circled keeping her blade aimed at them and slipped off the engraved cover revealing an acorn-sized chunk of black lumir in her sword’s hilt. It was flawed, but it could still extend a hungry black shadow toward those distant trees. Unfortunately, that was about all it could do, but they didn't know that. Your move.
They backed away from her, and Aralore cursed as she spotted a gray shape halfway down to the river already. Yanking a silver-tipped stake out of her hair, she aimed at the womanish creature’s back and threw. I won’t let you take it.
The ground heaved, knocking Aralore down. She scrabbled for purchase, but every rock she encountered ripped free, and she tumbled with them into that cold, clear water. It slapped her hard when she struck the water, and she lost her sword.
Aralore surfaced. Where are you, you wretched stone?
A black object floated nearby, trapped in an eddy between several rocks. It couldn’t be a fragment of the black lumir stone. I can’t take the chance that it isn’t. Aralore swam toward it in case it was.
A pair of scaly hands closed around Aralore’s throat as her fingers touched that rock. It must have cleaved when it had fallen, but how could it? Lumir was one of the hardest stones known to man. That was why the Litherians had used it to build their blasphemous architectural marvels.
This couldn't be part of the same stone, but Aralore grabbed it anyway. It cut her hand, but Aralore held fast to it despite the cold creeping up her fingers, numbing them. The light-stealer is mine! And it fit perfectly in the palm of her hand unlike its predecessor.
“Where is it? What have you done with it?”
Fangs flashed in the moonlight as Snake Woman squeezed, choking Aralore.
“It’s right here.”
Aralore smiled as she slammed the crystal into that creature's head, knocking that snaky abomination into the water. It was time to eradicate that creature.
“Die, abomination. This isn't your world. It's mine.”
Aralore angled the stone so the black beams radiating out of it tore through the water. Snake Woman dodged and tripped over a rock. As the abomination splashed down, Aralore grinned and sent another death ray at Snake Woman when that creature surfaced.
“You can have it, you psycho. I don't want your world, just what's mine. But I can't let you have that stone, I need it more than you do.”
Snake Woman twisted so her mirrored poncho reflected those killer beams back at Aralore. Something in her pocket burned as those rays struck it. What The hell is in my pocket? Whatever it was, it was branding itself into her thigh.
Aralore swayed. All her strength had run out of her into that blasted stone, and she was falling. A sliver of black dropped into the river. Her hand was too numb to hold it any longer. Snake Woman threw her poncho over the rock and gathered both up, taking care to keep it covered.
“Thanks, I’d love to stay and fight, but you know how it is. I have spells to unravel, plots to foil and a queen to piss off.” Snake Woman shrugged then loped around a sharp bend in the declivity.
Get up. Aralore repeated that command. Her body refused to move, but her hand finally did. She dug through her pocket for the thing burning a hole in it and withdrew a melted object. It was the chess piece she'd found on the meadow outside of Mount Eredren. Aralore had forgotten all about it. The thing had shown up when Dirk had delivered the original black lumir crystal. Now I remember. It was the bishop, a rank closed to me because I'm a woman.
Why did you spare me? Aralore turned the warped chess piece over, seeking but not finding any clues on it. Who sent you to me?
She shuddered as she remembered the shadowy man-shaped things that had accompanied Dirk. Had one of them left it? Why would they? I'm doing the Lord’s work not the Devil’s. A gift was a gift even though it had a dubious origin, and this gift had saved her life. It might prove useful again, so she stashed it in her other skirt pocket and tried to get her tired body moving. All this ruminating was giving her a headache. She had an abomination to chase.
“Preceptor!” Somnya called from halfway up the ravine.
She pointed at the glittering particles outlining a widening funnel as they spiraled down into the black lumir crystal. Both the crystal and that deadly cone stripped everything within reach of magic as they rounded a bend and were swallowed by the deepening night.
Ash sifted down onto Aralore, and a loud crack preceded the low rumble of a landslide. She dove out of the way seconds before rocks and other debris buried the spot she’d just occupied.
“What's happening?” One of her acolytes asked, but Aralore couldn't place his voice. Nor did she have an answer for him.
If the original black lumir stone had broken in two or more pieces, it should have weakened, not grown stronger. Something wasn’t right, or she’d missed something. What variable did I forget to account for? Is there something in the water?
“Preceptor!” Somnya shouted.
“I'm all right but be careful. The black lumir crystal destabilized things.”
Shayari—the land—could survive without magic, couldn’t it? It must. This quest is sanctioned by God Himself. I will eradicate its magic problem because He asked me to. Aralore punched the river. It wasn't nearly as satisfying as pummeling that Snake Woman, but it would have to do until she could get her hands on that abomination.
Shadows devoured the river as the original black lumir crystal vanished around the same bend as that Snake Woman. How convenient, I can take out two threats with one stone. That shouldn't have been funny, but the absurdity of her plan finally dawned on her, and Aralore laughed. Exhaustion must be fueling her mirth because nothing about their situation was at all humorous.
“Preceptor!”
This time it was Velor calling Aralore back from the edge as her laughter became more than a little manic. She'd done that once for him.
“I’m here. Gather everyone on shore and bring the remnants of the Queen’s box.” Aralore spotted her sword nearby and sighed with relief when her hand closed around its hilt again.
“Are we going after that creature?”
“And that rock, yes. We must.”
Thank God, they were both headed in the same direction for now. Aralore slid her sword into its scabbard and accepted a hand up from Velor, who’d raced ahead of the others. In his other hand, he held the daggers she'd thrown. He was thoughtful like that, and she gave him a nod of thanks.
“I want to know what she needs a black lumir crystal for.”
And there was still the original black lumir stone to deal with. It was heading south towards Mount Eredren, which was parked on the shore of the River Nirthal. That damned waterway had two low tides and two high tides because its current switched directions thanks to the tides washing in from the inland sea in the west.
Is it running west or east right now? She just didn’t know. Only one direction mattered—the one that damned the inhabitants of Mount Eredren. Their stronghold needed to be purged of magic, and she'd planned to do just that, but not while the mountain was inhabited. Who knew if the stronghold would survive that purge. Killing innocent people had never been part of her plan.
“Either we stop that crystal from reaching Mount Eredren, or we find someway to get everyone out before that crystal gets within range of it. Those are our only two options,” Aralore said, but she needn’t have bothered. Velor had already realized that, and Somnya nodded as she joined them.
“Agreed. I sent Querva and Galrod to warn the Rangers.”
“Good, at least they'll have some warning.” Thanks to Somnya's forethought.
“True, but we must try.”
“No, we must succeed.” Velor squeezed Somnya’s shoulder.
But success didn’t look likely. At least ten thousand people lived inside the stronghold at Mount Eredren and under it. Getting them all out in time might be impossible in so short a time especially in the middle of the night.
“And don't forget the enchanted forest. It might not let them pass through it.”
“You think it's already reclaimed the land we cleared?”
“I do. We barely made a dent in that forest. Six miles out of who knows how many thousands is not much at all. I'll bet the Queen of All Trees started repopulating it the second we were out of sight. Why else would she have let us do this?”
Aralore touched her sword but didn't draw it because there was no one to fight and not a single tree enchanted or otherwise in this declivity. That was fortunate since she no longer had the means to dispatch them, but that problem was only temporary. I'll get that black lumir crystal back, and I'll control it better.
“Let's leave speculation for later. Right now, we've got a job to do, and we can't do that if we don't keep up or strength. Let’s pool our rations and eat as we hike. We've got plenty of water to wash it down,” Somnya said, and she was right.
“If you find me something flammable, I'll get a light going.” Velor scanned the shore for pieces of drift wood using the weak moonlight shafting down on them.
“That’s a good idea since the moon keeps passing behind clouds.”
But that left Aralore nothing to do except pray, and she didn't feel much like praying right now. But she found a dry rock anyway and said a quick prayer for Nim, Nerlefa and the others God had called to serve him in heaven. When she finished, Somnya handed her some bread and cheese, and she led them deeper into the dark recesses of the narrow ravine.
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