The Keeper

Quadraginta: A Second Sorceress

We picked up our tucks, and with our spirits greatly improved, we made good pace. We soon cleared the trees at the spot Seamus had indicated.

Then we all stopped. We had to, just to take it all in.

“Blimey,” exclaimed Lackland.

Blimey indeed, I thought.

If we were tired of trees, we had come to the right place, because there wasn’t a single one ahead of us. It was as flat and open as any piece of land I had ever seen in my life. In the distance was a huge block of what looked to be granite, miles wide and a mile high. But except for that, the land just stretched on past the horizon, flat.

And bright.

The forest had let in no light.

This place seemed incapable of leaving any out.

It had been cool though foreboding among the trees.

Here it was hot and glaring, the air seemingly seared with the heat from above. We had been used to the darkness for so long that all of us put a hand to our eyes to shield them from the harsh light.

I looked at the others. “I guess we best get a move on.”

I went first, with Harry Two at my side, Lackland and Petra following and Delph bringing up the rear. We had gone barely a mile when I took off my cloak and then my overshirt. The others did the same as the heat continued to build. Then I rolled up my trouser legs. My boots felt like blazing rocks around my feet.

On we trudged, mile after mile, as it became hotter and hotter. We stopped for water, but as soon as we finished our fill and started to walk again, we sweated it away. Harry Two was panting so hard I thought he might pass out.

Delph came up next to me after we had trudged what I calculated to be twenty miles. In a low voice he said, “Do you see that rocky outcrop over there?”

I nodded.

“Well, it’s as far away as when we started walking, Vega Jane.”

I stared at the thing and realized that he was exactly right.

I looked up to the sky and got another shock.

Though we had been walking for a long time and the light should have been well turning to night, the sun was in the same position it had been when we first stepped into the Third Circle.

“Delph, the sun.”

He nodded. “I know.”

I thought back to what Astrea had told us about this place.

A vast, flat expanse that stretches seemingly forever.

Forever. I shuddered. Maybe her meaning had been quite literal. And what did that bode for us?

After more trekking, we stopped and set up camp. If anything, it was even hotter. I looked up at the sun and then down at our little campsite.

I raised my wand directly over the camp and said, “Embattlemento.”

The large shield spell rose from my wand and hovered in the air over where we would be sleeping. It suddenly grew darker under the shield, and the air became much cooler.

“Thank you!” exclaimed Lackland as he rubbed the sweat off his face and let the cool air wash over him. Then he collapsed onto his back and just lay there.

Later, we made our meal, and sat around cross-legged on the ground. What worried me the most of course was what Delph had already observed: We weren’t getting anywhere. If Lackland and Petra hadn’t realized this yet, they soon would.

Delph took the first watch while the three of us slept. Well, Lackland and Petra slept. I tried for a long time but then gave it up as a bad job. I took out the parchment and summoned Silenus. We looked at each other over the span of several inches.

“You live,” he said in mild surprise.

“I live,” I said. “Barely. We’re now in the Third Circle.”

He nodded benignly. “I am glad.”

I cocked my head. “Why? You’re a remnant. I wouldn’t think a remnant would have emotions.”

“Well, very clearly, you do not know everything,” he said in an even tone.

I refocused on the matter at hand. “Do you mind if I show you to a friend of mine?”

“Is he a good friend?”

“He’s my best friend.”

Silenus nodded and I carried the parchment over to where Delph was keeping watch, sat down next to him and introduced him to Silenus. It took Delph a bit of time to get comfortable with seeing the face on the parchment, but he finally settled down after a few “Cor Blimeys!”

I said, “We have a problem, Silenus.”

“Just the one? I’m positively astonished.”

“We walked for most of the light, but the sun remains overhead bright and hot. I used a shield spell to give us some relief from it.”

“Very smart of you, Vega Jane.”

Delph added, “The thing is, we walked all that way and didn’t go anywhere. It’s like we’re not even moving.”

Silenus nodded. “I can see that that would be a problem.”

“You can say that again,” interjected Delph.

I said, “Astrea told me that the Quag moves. I mean, it really doesn’t. It’s just a hallucination spell.” I suddenly blurted out, “Transdesa hypnotica.”

“Pardon?” said Silenus.

“It’s the incantation that makes the Quag appear to be moving. But it’s really not. It’s all in our heads. Astrea told me about it.” In a rush of panic I realized something else. She had never told me how to counter it. How could she have forgotten to do that? How could I have forgotten to ask her?

Then something else occurred to me. I looked wildly around.

I couldn’t see the mountains in the distance. Nor the ridges, nor anything else that Delph and I had seen before.

I looked back at Silenus.

“Bit of a pickle, eh?” he noted imperturbably.

“Yeah, a bit,” I mumbled, my spirits falling out through the bottoms of my boots. I stared down at my wand. “But I’ve got a wand.”

“Quite so. Then you know the reverse incantation?” asked Silenus.

“No, I bloody well don’t,” I admitted miserably.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Astrea never said.”

Delph spoke up. “But, Vega Jane, Astrea never told you how to summon this bloke Silenus. And remember when you knocked us all silly back at her cottage? You done that all on your own, eh?”

Silenus smiled at Delph. “Your ‘best friend’ is quite perceptive.”

“That’s right. I... I just said, ‘Make sense.’ And you showed up.”

“Magic and spells conjured are borne of necessity,” explained Silenus.

I shot him a glance. “What, you mean I can come up with the spells that I need to get through this place? Not just the ones Astrea taught me?”

“Of course. That is part of being magical, after all.”

And with those parting words, he disappeared.

Delph said encouragingly, “You’ll figure it out, Vega Jane.”

“No, I think we’ll figure it out, Delph.” I smiled.

He held my gaze. “So you told the bloke I was your best friend?”

“You are my best friend, Delph.”

He gave me the biggest smile in return. I started feeling very warm. He touched my arm and leaned toward me. I closed my eyes and—

The growls reached our ears. We leapt up and looked around. Yet all I could see was vast open expanse.

“Use your wand,” urged Delph.

“Crystilado magnifica,” I cried out.

Now revealed as though they were dead in front of me were four beasts moving with alarming speed and heading our way.

Delph screamed, “Get up. Lycans. Wake up!”

I glanced behind me. Lackland and Petra had already grabbed their weapons.

I withdrew the Embattlemento shield from overhead so we could see better, and the sun burned down brightly once more and the temperature soared.

I was about to incant my magnification spell again, but then I gasped because the lycans had risen out of the dirt right at my feet. Before I could strike with my wand, an arrow hit one of the creatures in the chest. It screamed in fury, and recoiled as blood flew everywhere. Then it toppled over and died.

There were three more to deal with, however.

“Jagada,” I cried out, pointing my wand at the second lycan.

Huge gashes sprouted all over its body. It thrashed about in great pain before it collapsed. I was knocked back by its flailing, and landed in the dirt so hard that all the breath was forced from me.

I scrambled up in time to see Delph use his great ax to cut the creature in two. Then he fell back as the third lycan attacked. I pointed my wand and yelled, “Rigamorte.” But the lycan abruptly turned and my spell missed.

The next moment I was hurtling backward as the fourth lycan crashed into me. I came within an inch of being bitten by the thing. My wand fell from my hand and our combined struggles kicked it away.

Without Destin and my wand, I would be no match for a lycan. But I was not going down without a fight. I rolled away and jumped to my feet. He leapt at me, but I managed to dodge out of the way. I pulled my cloak off, rolled it up between my hands and held it out in front of me. With a snarl, the thing attacked again. I dodged it again, jumped on its back and wrapped the cloak around its throat.

Before I could start to squeeze, its claws grabbed my hair, yanked and threw me off. I landed on my bum five feet away. When I looked up, the lycan was leaping right at me, its fangs poised for the kill.

“Rigamorte!”

The black light hit the creature square in the back. It froze for a moment in midair and then plunged, landing full on me. I managed to push it off and scrambled away from the dead thing.

Then I looked over and saw a very pale Petra clutching my wand. She had cast the spell. And it had worked.

She looked at me with terrified eyes, even as Delph and Lackland stared at her too, obviously having witnessed her slaying of the lycan with the wand.

The next moment, she dropped my wand and clutched at her hand, tears streaming down her face.

I rushed over to her and picked up my wand.

Delph and Lackland had also hurried over. Lackland said in amazement, “You... you can do that... stuff what Vega can do.”

“Sorcery,” added Delph breathlessly.

She was still clutching at her hand and she was still crying. I looked down at her hand. “Petra, let me see.”

She shook her head and kept her hand covered.

“Let her see, Petra,” said Delph. “Vega can sort you out with the Stone.”

I had already pulled it from my pocket. But I had to pry her fingers open. I shivered and my stomach lurched when I saw it. Her hand was blackened as if it had been forced into a fire. It looked painful and stiff indeed. I stared at it and then at Petra. There was both pain and confusion in her features.

I waved the Adder Stone over the wound and thought good thoughts. Nothing happened. Surprised by this, I held my wand over her hand and tried several different spells to heal the wound. Not a single one worked.

She jerked her hand free and snapped, “Just leave it.”

As she walked away clutching her injured hand, I looked at my wand. Why had it burned her? Because the wand didn’t belong to her? I already suspected her of being a Maladon. She had cast the death spell. She had known how to use the Finn, a magical element created by dark sorcerors.

I glanced up to see Delph watching me curiously. I wanted to tell him what I was thinking, but Lackland was standing right there.

“Thank the Steeples for Petra being a sorceress,” I said with a forced smile that I’m sure Delph saw right through.

“Aye,” said Lackland, who appeared still to be dazed by the whole thing. “I’ll just nip over and see how she’s doing.” He headed to where Petra sat slumped over.

I so wanted to tell Delph that Petra was our enemy. Then maybe the admiring look in his eyes whenever he glanced her way would be gone for good. But there was just one problem with all I was thinking.

Petra had used the wand to save my life.

“What is going on with Petra, Vega Jane?” asked Delph.

“I don’t know, Delph,” I answered. And I really, really didn’t.