The Quest for the Lost Shards of Power

by F M Andrews

  The girls felt ill. The boats were everything to the clans. They were not just homes, without them, they would not be able to pursue the birds and keep ahead of the winter storms. They would perish within a circle. Ralta’s strained, shocked expression was repeated on every face.

  Ela thought she understood, but she had one more question. “What are the ‘travel books’ and why did the leader want to see them?” she asked. Ralta, who was waving at Bhan, trying to get his attention, stopped to give Ela a quizzical look.

  “Pardon?” she asked as if not sure what Ela was asking.

  “What do the travel books have to do with the missing branches?” Ela rephrased her question.

  “Oh! I see what you mean now,” Ralta exclaimed, her puzzled look evaporating. “Every clan keeps a careful, detailed log of exactly where they have travelled, what they encountered and when they were there. It is a way of learning how to live in a changing world. No clan would ever think of entering false information, so if a clan was near the grove before the gathering it would be recorded in their log.”

  It was the girls turn to look stunned. Did that mean that their arrival had also been recorded? Ela felt the ground shift beneath her and the blood drain from her face. Glancing at Ema she could see that she was not feeling much better.

  “You mean to say that there will be precise records of where and when you found us as well? Ela squeaked, not sure what answer she wanted.

  “Yes, of course!” Ralta replied looking puzzled once more, before making her way over to Bhan. And with those three little words, the twins’ whole reality shifted. Before they heard them, they had resigned themselves to living the rest of their lives as part of the Falcon clan with no possibility of ever completing their task; however, now they had a choice and there was a decision to be made. Should they stay and condemn thousands of worlds to live under the influence of evil or should they try to complete their mission, return to Feld, leave behind the only place that had really felt like home and leave Ralta and Bhan childless once more.

  All at once, they knew that their childhood was over and that, now, they needed to make some hard adult decisions.

  “Shit in a bucket!” Ema blurted to Ela. “This is just dandy! How many Feld days have we been here? I haven’t bothered to look. What if there is a chance that we might be able to get back in time? How are we going to persuade that dick head shard bearer to come back with us?”

  Ela sat down dejectedly and put her head in her hands. Ema followed suit. “I knew it was too good to last!” she sighed.

  Ema nodded, staring at the trampled grass. “It’s strange, but even thinking about some evil guy spoiling this place makes me feel as if he is here watching us now.”

  “Yeah. I feel it too!” Ela said slowly as she sat up straight and began to look around. “Sort of like he is just over there.” she continued, pointing off to one side to a space between two clan enclaves.

  Ema nodded, a questioning expression creasing her brow. “There is definitely something creepy over there. Kind of like a bad smell or something.”

  Almost against their will, they stood and began to make their way towards the spot.

  The closer they edged, the more intense the feeling of wrongness became. Peering round a group of people huddled together, talking in hushed tones, they caught a fleeting glimpse of something impossible. Fighting for breath, they both ducked back into cover. There was absolutely no doubt: standing here in the middle of this innocent world was Zail himself. Their knees buckled. Suddenly there were no more choices to be made, their decision had been made for them. They had no option but to complete their task and bring the shard and its host back to Errin.

  Just standing was difficult but taking courage from each other they peered around the bodies blocking their view once more, carefully avoiding any eye contact with the enemy. He looked so normal, almost handsome. Probably a chosen disguise, Ela thought. He was dressed in dark brown hunting clothes with leather, knee-high boots. His curly blond hair was cut short, just above his ears and he was clean shaven. Nothing remarkable, nothing to turn your head, except for the dark, toxic aura that swirled all about him, reaching high into the sky and sending tendrils out to touch anyone close. Errin had an aura also. Hers was green, lush and vibrant but this was choking and destructive.

  The twins had no idea of his power. Could he tell they were there, that they were not from this world? Why was he here? Was it their manipulation of time that alerted him? They had so many unanswered questions, but the one thing they did know was that nothing good would come from his presence here.

  Ela tapped Ema on the arm to get her attention and then ducking back into cover she grabbed her twin’s face and stared eye to eye to create a very narrow communication line.

  “We have to find out what he is doing here, but we have to be very careful. If we come from different directions to confuse him and use our lightest touch we might be able to pick up some of his thoughts but we can't let him look into our minds. He will see everything,” Ela thought, then pulling out her dagger she continued. “If the worst happens we have save the others; we have to be prepared to die rather than let him find out about Errin.”

  Ema agreed, sniffing back a sob. Giving each other a desperate hug, they wiped away their tears and walked off in different directions. How quickly this day had turned from one full of fun to one of terror.

  Using others to shield them, they began to cast feather-light scans across his aura. He twitched, looking in Ela’s direction for a moment. She froze her mind, thinking furiously of breakfast and thankfully, his gaze continued on past her. The relief made her feel ill. The light touch she had managed to place revealed a world of hate, revenge, and anger so intense that it crushed her mind. He was strong, so strong. How were they ever going to escape him? Their only hope lay in remaining unnoticed.

  Finally, the twins reunited behind Ralta and Bhan’s boat and fell into each other's arms. They were both shaking, each revelling in the solid warmth and familiarity of the other. When they finally compared notes they realized that it was bad but not as bad as it could have been. The overwhelming sensation they had felt from him was one of utter disdain for the people gathered here. He had no idea about the girls, who they were or where they were from. He was only on this world to search for a powerful talent that he had felt emanating from here. Normally he wouldn't bother with such a small backwater world like this. There was not enough people to hurt, not a big enough buzz to be gained; however, he could not ignore the surge of power he had felt. He had decided that since he was here, at gathering time, he might as well make the most of it and cause as much heartache and tension as he could and, who knows, it might even flush out the talented one.

  He had cut the branches and placed them in an innocent clan’s hold. When discovered, and he would make sure they would be discovered as he had altered their travel book as well, the inevitable resulting conflict would give him a nice little pick me up.

  The girls shuddered. It was obvious he was only here because they had been so careless and had used too much power to correct their mistake. It was all their fault and somehow they had to fix it, yet what could they do? The girls sat staring at each other helplessly. They couldn’t risk being found and they couldn’t let his cruel trick play out. The fallout from it would be immensely destructive for the whole gathering. At the very least, an innocent clan would be banished to live out their existence alone in the vastness. At the worst it could start a war.

  They had gleaned enough information from him to know he had left the branches in the Soaringwing clan’s flag ship’s storage hold.

  “We could burn their boat and the branches and then then there would be no evidence to incriminate the clan,” Ela mused, but they both immediately rejected this idea as the loss of a boat would be even worse than any other option.

  “Nooo, but I think you might be onto something there,” Ema began. “What say we start the fire, contain it, let it burn the branches and
then put it out before it does any serious damage?” It was an idea, a place to start, although both girls could sense that it was a complicated plan and complicated plans meant that there was a lot to go wrong.

  The gathering’s jovial mood had shifted. Clans stood in small knots, talking in low voices, glancing nervously around, surreptitiously observing. An air of suspicion and tension had replaced the happy, carnival atmosphere of earlier. It was amazing how much damage Zail could inflict in such a short time. The girls needed time and quiet to think and the best place was the sanctuary of their room. Somehow they had to prevent an unsuspecting clan from becoming his victim. Ralta and Bhan were already aboard, sitting at the table, drinking steaming cups off Kan, talking quietly with identical worried expressions sculpting their faces.

  “Ah! There you are!” Ralta exclaimed, rising to give them each a quick hug. “I was just going to go looking for you. We were just thinking that it would be best if you stay in tonight. The mood out there has turned ugly and I don’t want anyone to start pointing fingers in your direction just because you are different.”

  Tears threatened and a lump formed in Ela’s throat with the realization that soon she and Ema were going to have to leave, betray Ralta’s trust, and spurn her love. Both girls fiercely hugged her back, making the most of their dwindling time left together.

  “I can’t even think straight,” Ela[CL32] sighed as she sank down into her bed, lay back and stared at the wooden ceiling above her. “Too many things are swirling around in my head. I can’t believe that just this morning we were looking forward to a fun day of racing and now we have to try and figure out how to prevent this horrible man from turning the gathering into a war zone, not to mention we also have to work out a way to do it without using our talent.”

  Ema, also lying on her bed, hands behind her head, gave a rueful laugh. “And if we do manage to succeed to do that, the next thing we need to do is to try and retrace our steps back to the place we arrived, dragging Mr ‘big breeches’ willingly along for the ride, and we don’t even know how many days we have left to achieve all this in.”

  “Well, that is one problem we can solve,” Ela announced, sitting up and reaching for her pack. After rummaging around for a few moments she eventually retrieved the crumpled parchment and made an attempt to straighten it out on the hard floor. Two dark heads bowed over it, giving it their full attention.

  “Four days left!” Ema gasped. “I was sure there would be more. I must have lost track of time.”

  “We are not sure how the time runs here in relation to Feld,” Ela cautioned. “We may have less than four or this world’s days left.” They stared at the parchment in disbelief, both knowing that no matter how you looked at it, they were running out of time.

  Slowly they sat back on the edge of their beds facing each other, each mirroring the other, with elbows on knees and chins cupped in their hands.

  “This is getting us nowhere,” Ema sighed. “We need to attack this one problem at a time.”

  “Okay,” Ela began. “So, the first thing we have to do is stop the council from seeing the false entry in the Soaringwing’s travel log.”

  “No,” Ela disagreed. “The first thing we need to do is to find out where this logbook is kept and then to gain access to it.” She corrected then added a thought. “I wonder if each ship keeps the log in the same place?”

  The girls looked at each other as the same thought occurred to them. Ralta and Bhan will know. Together they wandered, nonchalantly back into the kitchen, made themselves a hot drink and sat down at the table with their benefactors. Casually, as if it were of little importance, Ela began to talk about the day, all the time leading up to the council meeting at noon the next day.

  “So every clan leader will attend the meeting with their log book?” she asked. Ralta and Bhan both nodded. “And there is no getting out of it?” They both shook their heads this time.

  “Why would you not go?” Ralta asked confused.” It would only cast suspicions if someone did not attend.”

  “You know,” Ela thought as innocently as she could, “I have never seen our log book. Where is it kept and who keeps it updated?”

  “It is the duty of all clan leaders to make the entries every day, so our book is kept in Rhelin’s cabin on the flag ship,” Ralta answered.

  “Can anyone look at it or is it out of bounds?” It was Ema’s turn to ask a question.

  “It is there for all to see,” Bhan chimed in. “But, to be honest, there is not a great deal of interest in it day to day. We mainly use it when we are plotting our next journey to see where we went last circle, what was good, what was dangerous and where the birds were plentiful.”

  The twins finished their drinks, rinsed their cups and turned to go back to bed. It was then that Ela spied the empty fire coal bucket and an idea blossomed.

  “We can’t sleep really, with all that is going on,” she said, picking up the bucket. “Would you like us to get some more coals for the morning?”

  “No, no don't worry. It can wait until morning. It is dark outside now and most people will be in bed,” Ralta said, waving her hand in dismissal.

  “Really, we don’t mind,” Ela pushed. “It will only take a moment.”

  Ralta and Bhan had learned very early on in their relationship with the girls that it was easier to let them do what they wanted than to argue with them and, besides, the end result was always the same. The twins still did exactly what they wanted to do anyway.

  “Okay, then, if you really want to,” Bhan agreed, admitting defeat. “Ralta and I are off to bed now so we will see you in the morning,” he finished as the twins called goodnight and slipped out into the night.

  If they had known that this would be the last time they would see those caring, compassionate faces they might have been undone. As it was, they were concentrating on the problems ahead, facing the future with trepidation and a small tingle of excitement and they barely even acknowledged Bhan’s parting words.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The night was dark.

  The moon and the stars were playing peekaboo behind the scurrying clouds and a breeze swirled in eddies amongst the parked boats, flapping banners, rattling pulleys and humming through the rigging, all sounds that were now a familiar part of the girls’ new life. It was important not to draw attention to themselves and so they put on a brave face of normality, strolling unconcerned, the bucket swinging in Ela’s tightly clenched fist. Hiding in plain sight, Fenrick had called it.

  I didn't take long to reach the Soaringwing clan’s flag ship as they were parked only three clans away, but as they drew closer they noticed someone walking the upper deck. The twins ducked back into the deeper shadow of a nearby hull and watched. This wasn’t good. There was no way they could sneak on board without the person seeing them. They would just have to wait until this annoying person went to bed. The twins were not good at waiting and both began to fidget as the night ticked on and the moon swung inexorably towards the horizon. It had become quite chilly. The girls were blowing steam now and it must have been the cold that eventually made their night prowler decide to turn in. Carefully the girls crept forward. The flagship was huge and its hull was like satin; these boats slipped through the air with very little resistance. The only way to get aboard was the lowered ramp, which meant that there was only one way on and one way off.

  Using all their stalking skills, they crept up the gang plank, knees bent, eyes scanning the darkness, teasing each step with their toes first before committing to any step. There was no going back now. If they were caught here, there was no excuse. It seemed so strange. The world around them was so normal, totally unaware of the battle the twins were engaged in, yet if they were caught everyone's worlds would fall apart. So much was riding on their young shoulders.

  Thankfully the flagships were all very similar in their layout and it did not take them long to reach the leader’s cabin and soon they found themselves standing outside an ornat
e door listening, identical grins splitting both their faces as a loud, rhythmic snoring sound greeted them. Luck was on their side. No ship or boat in the clan used locks, there simply was no need. Trust was implicit. They all survived together or perished together and all possessions ultimately belonged to the clan. Carefully, Ela turned the handle, tiny increment by tiny increment. The mechanism was well oiled and rotated smoothly yet when she came to push the door open it began to creak ominously. Once again, a slow and steady technique was needed and by the time they had a gap big enough to creep through, they had not made any sound louder than the constant snoring of the room’s occupant.

  A dim glow lamp was positioned on the bedside table, giving just enough light to see the layout of the cabin and any obstacles in their path. The shelves were lined with bric-a-brac, mementoes of the clan leader’s life, and the room had a warm, lived-in feel. Moving immediately to the desk in the corner, they saw what they had come for, sitting on the top. It was a beautifully bound tome with gold embossed writing on the spine. The girls had no idea what the writing said but they didn’t need to. Gingerly they opened it up at the page marked with a silk ribbon. Beautiful penmanship had made immaculate entries in straight columns down the page. Both Ela and Ema studied them closely, looking for and clue that they had been altered in any way, but there was nothing. They were just about to turn back a page when the occupant of the bed suddenly sat bolt upright and turned towards them. They froze. There was nowhere to hide.