Map of the Impossible

by J. F. Penn

  She rushed at Sienna with a howl of rage.

  12

  Finn and Titus waited until night fell once more before leaving the safety of the underground hideout for the streets of the trader town. The sounds of raucous laughter came from the usually busy slave square, drunken merchants idling away the hours until their trade in human flesh began once more. While the flow of immigrants had died down when the border closed, they still sold slaves from Uncharted villages to work in the far reaches of the Borderlands. There was no end to the appetite for servants and with the breeding program ever expanding, girls were particularly sought after.

  Finn pulled his cloak tighter and ducked into the alleyway behind the houses, heading away in the opposite direction, Titus right behind. They had no time for a fight, but Finn couldn’t help but clench his fists in anticipation of such a confrontation. He knew that Titus would appreciate letting out some of his pent-up anger and there could be no more deserving group of self-serving bastards than the slave traders. But they could not attract the attention of the Shadow Guards tonight. They had to get out of town undetected.

  They slipped one more time through the warren of streets, ducking and diving into the shelter of shacks, behind shadows cast by ruined walls, a broken place that somehow sustained a pulse of life. Titus took the lead as they emerged from the northern edge, heading away from the desert toward the mountain pass that would lead to the Resistance camp. But instead of heading up to the ridge, they turned into a line of thick forest.

  Once they were out of sight of the road, Titus paused, his face turned toward the mountain pass. The air smelled of fresh pine after rain. The hoot of an owl came through the boughs of the trees above, and Finn looked up to see the silhouette of the hunter on the wing.

  He waited in silence, watching emotion play over his friend’s face as Titus fought the urge to return to the side of his beloved. He imagined Maria up there, her bloody corpse washed and laid beside what was left of the baby. Perhaps they had already been buried.

  If Titus wanted to go and mourn them, Finn knew he would proceed alone. He thought of Sienna and wondered if he would ever have a chance to love as Titus did. Such love came at a price, but it was worth trying for. After he had left her in the plague camp that night, Finn’s anger had been all-consuming. Sienna had saved her world at the expense of his, but would he have chosen any differently? In the end, we all choose our own tribe over others.

  Besides, it was not for the Earthside Mapwalkers to save his people — Borderlanders must save their own. He and Titus were but two of the growing Resistance, but their mission would light a flame that others could follow. The future of the Borderlands did not have to rest with those of the Shadow anymore.

  Titus turned, the tracks of tears down his cheeks shining in the moonlight. He took a deep breath and nodded once. “We go on, brother. I will write her name in the sky with the blue flames of the burning crop and honor her death with the end of that which killed her.”

  He reached out a hand, and they clasped arms, a bond that went far beyond blood. Finn knew they would rather die together on the mission than return to this place without achieving their goal.

  Titus walked on, Finn right behind, as they wove between the trees, their footsteps crunching on a bed of fallen pine needles. The sounds of night hunters came through the branches, the bark of a fox, the roar of a mountain lion in the distance.

  When they reached a break in the trees, Titus checked the stars before leading the way once more. Finn hadn’t served in this part of the Borderlands. He could navigate around Old Aleppo and its surrounding region with his eyes closed, but here in the mountains, Titus was the expert. He had been with a ranger troop, searching far and wide for resources that the Shadow Cartographers could use in their never-ending war.

  As they went on, walking became more like a meditation, their footsteps in time as they marched under shelter of the forest until the fingers of dawn crept across the sky catching the snowcap of the mountain peak high above them.

  As the demon enveloped her, Sienna reached for her magic in a desperate attempt to get away from its grip. But before she could travel, a suffocating mist descended, choking her, wrapping her limbs in a cold dense fog, pinning her arms to her sides. She could hear the cries of the others as they tried to find her, but she was somewhere else now, somewhere between the worlds.

  The woman had disappeared, but Sienna could feel her imprint all around. A desperate melancholy. She had lost her child, her family, her home — and her soul. A deep sense of rage throbbed through the air, an anger that would rip flesh from bone to defend a loved one. At the same time, a hopelessness, a desire for oblivion, a need to extinguish life in order to end pain. Sienna doubled over as a wave of anguish washed over her. She cried out in understanding as the world went black.

  “Sienna, Sienna, wake up, please.”

  The voice was insistent, but Sienna couldn’t move. Cold deadened her limbs, heavy with ice, as hard as the obsidian in the surrounding walls, souls trapped within each one.

  She opened her eyes. Mila bent over, relief on her face, Perry and Zoe behind, standing close together as if finding solace in one another.

  “We couldn’t get to you,” Mila said. “We thought you were gone.”

  “It’s okay. I know what this place is now,” Sienna whispered, her voice croaking from the effort.

  Mila helped her sit up, leaning back against the rock wall as Perry passed over a water bottle.

  Sienna took several sips before speaking. “This place sits right under the border, at the place where the worlds meet. Sometimes people are lost between Earthside and the Borderlands — over water, in the air, sometimes when the border shifts by deliberate action or chance. These souls are trapped here in obsidian, locked into volcanic rock, creatures of neither world.”

  Mila looked around at the many thousands of niches, each with a captured soul inside. “Should we smash all the rocks? Set them free?”

  Sienna shook her head. “No. They can’t exist anymore. They are like flies in amber, captured at the moment of crossing. The woman you released is one with the Shadow now. I don’t know if that’s any better than where she was.”

  Sienna couldn’t share what else she had experienced — kinship, an affinity within her blood for those between one world and the next. A sense that fate swirled ever closer.

  “I’m okay, honestly.” She stood up. “The good news is that this is the center of the border, so we’re almost on the other side.”

  Zoe nodded. “Yes, it’s not much further.” She turned around, her arm outstretched as she pointed at the many arches surrounding them. “We just have to find the right way out.”

  Sienna found her gaze drawn to the altar. “Can you guys start looking? I need a minute to pull myself together.”

  Perry and Zoe went in one direction and Mila in the other, working their way around the base of the mausoleum, checking each door for any distinguishing features or a hint of the way forward.

  Sienna walked to the altar, the smell of beeswax lingering in the air as the flicker of flame drew her in. The candles were as thick as the waist of a man with multiple wicks designed to burn for months on end. A constant light in the darkness. A representation of hope in every culture.

  There was a mosaic above the altar, each tile a precious stone fixed to the rock behind. Its backdrop depicted a vortex of light and shadow, strings of silver and black twisting together in an everlasting web. A representation of balance, perhaps?

  Sienna leaned over the altar to examine the mosaic more closely. There were more colors entwined within — a line of rubies scattered amongst the black and silver, behind and between the lines. In the foreground, a young woman clothed in robes of Marian blue stood with upturned palms in surrender, her face lifted to the heavens, her features obscured by silver mist. Scarlet gems streamed from slashes on her arms and with a start, Sienna realized what it showed.

  Blood magic at the very hea
rt of the border.

  She stepped back, heart pounding, her gaze fixed on the woman whose blood maintained the border. She thought of Bridget back in the Ministry, maps entwined in her veins, ink mingled with her blood. The book on her desk with the sketch of the figure in a vortex of shadow. Could Bridget be the balance?

  Or could the voice that called to her from the Tower of the Winds be such a creature? And if so, did that mean its power could never be vanquished?

  “Come and look at this.” Zoe’s voice echoed through the vault. “I think it must be the way out.”

  Sienna took one last look at the mosaic figure, fixing the image in her mind, then turned away from the altar, pushing down her unease as she joined the others.

  The door was thick oak, patterned with intricate carvings of a spiked mountain range. A massive keyhole, far bigger than any human lock, sat under a handle carved in the shape of a lemur.

  “Each portal has a distinct image,” Zoe explained. “But the map I saw suggested a forest of barbed stone like this image.”

  Perry shrugged. “It’s as good a guess as any and I’m keen to get out of here as fast as possible.” He pushed down on the handle. The door didn’t budge. He pushed harder, slamming his body against the door, then raised his hands, conjuring his fire, ready to burn their way out.

  Zoe placed a hand on his arm. “Wait. Let me try.”

  She walked to the door and lifted her hands, her fingers weaving in the air in front of the lock. Sienna watched her magic in action, wondering at how Zoe manipulated reality. The weaver magic was most akin to her own, shaping the world anew, gently encouraging a shift that others could only achieve with brute force.

  The lock clicked.

  Zoe pushed down on the handle, and the door opened.

  Sienna smelled the tropical rainforest before she saw it, a heady scent of wet leaves and night flowers that swept into the dead cavern on a warm breeze. It was dark up ahead and as the team walked through the door and into the trees, a bright moon shone above in a field of stars.

  The rhythmic chirp of cicadas greeted them as the call of a night bird rang out above and the hoop-hoop of a monkey echoed through the trees. The air was humid and Sienna could feel sweat pooling at the base of her spine as they stood in silence. Was this even the right way?

  Between the trees, spiked shards of needle-shaped peaks surrounded them, moonlight reflecting off blades of rock. A narrow path wound through the forest, the way ahead marked by a cairn of stones left by previous travelers.

  Mila turned with a smile on her face. “This is the Borderlands. I can feel it.”

  Sienna nodded. “I sense it, too, but we need to rest before we travel on.” The exhaustion of the cave journey crept through her bones, fatigue from physical exertion and the use of magic draining the energy from her. The others must feel the same. She still had a faint unease, but the sense of being watched had dissipated a little. The sounds of the surrounding forest were curiously welcoming, as if they were all just animals seeking shelter for the night.

  Perry pointed at a patch of soft ground beneath the canopy of trees with boulders for shelter and support. “This seems good enough.” He sank to the forest floor, rolling onto his back, eyes beginning to close already. “Who’s taking first watch?”

  “I can,” Zoe said. “I’m not sleepy right now.”

  Sienna didn’t argue. Now they were out of the cave system, a wave of exhaustion broke over her. Her legs trembled with the aftermath of the soul’s connection, her head aching from the intensity of the cavern adventure. Mila looked just as weary as she curled up beside Perry, tugging her coat around her shoulders.

  Sienna turned to Zoe. “Wake me in a few hours. I’ll take over from you.”

  Zoe nodded and clambered up onto one of the boulders. She sat cross-legged on the rock and looked up toward the stars shining brightly above. A moonbeam touched the young woman’s hair with a silver sheen and Sienna caught the peaceful smile that spread across her face.

  She turned away and lay down next to Mila, pulling her pack under her head as a pillow. A tendril of fear snaked into her mind as she closed her eyes. Would there be demons in her nightmares, creatures of smoke and claw? But this time, the wave of fatigue swept her into oblivion.

  Zoe relished the time alone, her mind still circling around the events in the caves. She had entered the chambers as an outsider but she had emerged with a sense of connection with the Mapwalker team, a knowledge that her magic was just as useful as theirs — and dare she think it? Perhaps even more so.

  She looked down at her sleeping friends; her gaze lingering on Perry. His fingers twitched as if he dreamed of wielding his magic, and Zoe remembered how he had looked in the cave of the ibis. His hands raised within a tower of flame, his muscular frame silhouetted against the blaze, every inch like a young god of fire. They were so different and yet, there was a connection between them.

  Zoe smiled as she leaned back against the cool of the rock and looked up at the stars, shifting her gaze to let the weave of the world emerge once more. The strings appeared more quickly this time, shimmering strands of silver and shadow and hues of green from the forest. All life was woven together and Zoe wondered how much she could manipulate these filaments, creating new things. Perhaps destroying them, too.

  A crack in the forest. The snap of a branch.

  Zoe sat up sharply and peered around at the thick trees, suddenly less of a haven and more a forbidding place of hard wood and sharp spines.

  She looked down at the sleeping Mapwalker team. They were all exhausted, slumbering deeply. She didn’t want to wake them and it was most likely one of the forest creatures going about its nightly hunt. She was just jumpy. There was nothing to worry about.

  But as she turned back, a flash of silver caught the moonlight. A shadowy figure loomed over her. She opened her mouth to scream a warning, but a sharp pain at her temple turned everything black.

  A chorus of birdsong woke Sienna as the sky turned from inky blue to pastel shades, the stars fading as light returned to the forest. She had slept all night and missed her turn at the watch. For a moment, she was grateful for it. Her body had regained its strength, and the creatures of the cavern were only a memory now they were out in the fresh air. But someone else must have taken her turn.

  She sat up, noting that Mila and Perry were only just waking up beside her.

  “Zoe,” Sienna called up to the top of the rock. “Are you there?”

  No answer. Just the call of birds warbling and whistling above.

  Sienna rolled to her feet, unease rising within as she walked around the boulder and then clambered up onto it. Zoe was nowhere to be seen, her pack left discarded on the top of the rock.

  Mila sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What is it? Did we sleep through?”

  Sienna jumped down, pack in hand. “Zoe’s not here.”

  “I’m sure she’s just in the trees somewhere. She can’t have gone far.” Perry got to his feet, shaking sleep from his limbs, and clambered up the rock. “Zoe!”

  Birds flew from the treetops at his cry, winging across the ever-lightening sky toward the jagged peaks beyond. But there was no answering call, no footsteps from the forest.

  Perry pointed to a gap in the trees. “What’s that? It looks different from last night.”

  Sienna jogged over to where the treeline parted into a semblance of a path, Mila and Perry right behind her. The carefully piled cairn of stones was now strewn across the track and next to it, a huge footprint in the dust.

  “What is that?” Perry hunkered down to look more closely. “It’s more animal than human but like nothing I’ve seen before.”

  Sienna’s stomach turned at the sight of it. They had not left the Shadow behind in the cave system. Perhaps their use of magic had even alerted whatever ruled this area of the Borderlands. Whatever it was, it had Zoe.

  13

  Sienna crouched by Mila as they examined the footprint more carefully. “It co
uld be a mutant,” Mila said. “One of those bred by the Shadow Cartographers. But why take Zoe?”

  Perry stood and looked down the path, his face etched with concern. “It doesn’t matter why. We have to go after her. We can track it, follow its path.”

  Mila shook her head. “We have to get to the Tower of the Winds. Our mission is to help Bridget re-open the border. Every moment we delay, Earthside suffers further. Zoe knew the risks when she—”

  “No,” Sienna cut in sharply. “We go after Zoe. We need her.” She stood and spun on her heel, walking back to where the packs lay, her face flushed as she thought of the Weaver. The way ahead wasn’t clear, but she knew Zoe was important somehow. And besides, they couldn’t leave her in the camp of the mutants. Sienna thought back to Xander’s end, sucked dry of his magic and life force by the coldly beautiful Elf. She would not leave another of the team to die so far from home.

  Sienna picked up her pack. “We need to get going. They’re hours ahead of us already.”

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Mila said, shaking her head as she grabbed her pack.

  Perry snatched his up, shouldering Zoe’s as well and strode into the forest.

  Together they walked under the trees as morning light broke through the canopy, dappling the way ahead. The path wound past thick trunks, torchwood and ebony amongst them, hard tropical trees no longer so densely packed on Earthside, cleared for timber and other crops. Sienna spotted orchids as they walked by, bright colors of purple and scarlet, a glimpse of beauty in a dangerous land.

  She had heard of the camp of the mutants, new species cultivated by the Shadow Cartographers, bred from humans with different magical powers to enable new strains to emerge. She remembered the Fertility Halls in the Castle of the Shadow, Finn’s face as his sister died in his arms, his niece taken for the cause. She wondered where he was now, whether he thought of her at all. Finn had made it clear that his path lay in the Borderlands, whereas her allegiance would always be to Earthside. She had thought they could somehow make a future together, but it seemed impossible right now.