“Kamen, he’s gone!” Kandish yelled. It was a few hours yet before dawn when she awoke to find that Qenn was missing. It was the LifeWaters all over again. But this time, Qenn would not be so fortunate. This time, he would not win. She had tracked him back to the Taker’s trail, saw his footprints turn north, then realized what he had done.
“Why would he do that?” Kamen growled in panic. He wiped the sleep from his eyes and hurried to follow Kandish.
Kandish ran north, following Qenn’s tracks. “He thinks he can save us that way. He thinks that he can do all this without help.”
“Fool! He’s going to get himself killed!”
“Judging by his tracks, he’s more than an hour ahead,” said Kandish quickly. “We have to hurry.”
Kandish picked up her pace, listening to Kamen grunt something unpleasant about how he should have heard Qenn leave, that he should have read the signs. But Kandish knew better than he, and still she failed to see them. It was the magic, she insisted. He was losing himself. She tried to tell herself that it was still early yet and there would be time to find him and undo the strangling lines of persuasion the staff was caressing him with. But she could not be certain. Everyone was different. With Qenn having such little experience, the magic could easily take him.
As they reached the trail, all she could do was hope that she was wrong.
Qenn had walked for more than a mile, his tears dry against his pale skin, his pounding heart settling to a normal pace, as the sky brightened far to his right in a blend of colors that all may have been black or grey as far as he could notice. His eyes stung from crying, from the ache that he felt for leaving them behind. But the staff was there to offer comfort. He cradled it between both his arms, snug to his chest, with the tip resting above his left shoulder. He clung to it for warmth, he thought. But the waves of heat he was feeling from the staff were doing more than just heating his skin, and the decision to keep it pressed against him was not entirely his. He was hungry, he was tired. But soon all of that would be lost beneath the presence of the staff.
“You’ll be fine,” he whispered, thinking of Kandish. She would come after him, of course. But by then, it would all be over, and she would be safe. They would not have to worry about magic again.
He smiled. He could see her eyes sparkling as though nothing was wrong. He could see her smile broaden as though she was about to laugh. He imagined running his fingers through her silver hair, her face shimmering like water…
Wait. What am I doing?
Qenn stopped his line of thought, shaking off his trance as though it were water on his coat. It was the LifeWaters face he found replacing hers. It was the magic held within the staff he carried, he realized. It was working its way into him. Qenn grew scared at how easily its image came to him, how easily it overtook his thoughts. He focused again, harder his time, remembering Kandish’s face. He missed her immensely. Her scent, her voice, were just whiffs in the swirling wind that he could only catch patches of at a time.
Kandish would be tracking him by now, he thought. She would be mad at his decision, but the end result would be worth it. She would forgive him. He moved at a faster pace, hoping to push enough time between them for him to destroy the Mrenx Ku long before Kandish arrived. And she would be moving fast, he knew. She had thought that it was her magic that was going to save him, that he was somehow her responsibility. But she didn’t figure on free will interfering with the Seer’s vision.
He suddenly thought that he knew how Kamen Ode had felt when he left Skadar Port with the thought of doing so would eventually save his mother. How crushed he must have been, Qenn thought sadly. But this was different. He was in control. The staff would not fail him. Kandish would be saved.
His smile lessened then, as he had to push aside his feelings and harden his heart. Doing otherwise would let in his common sense and his willful reasoning, showing him how wrong his decision had been. He focused instead on the talisman in his hands. The staff throbbed in a glowing white pulse. Qenn saw it right away, staring at it in fear that the magic would be unleashed upon him. So he tried something. He began to concentrate on the staff, talking to it, caressing it with words, telling it to listen to him, to retreat back into the staff. His thumbs rubbed along the wood, pressing firmly as if the action itself was forcing the magic back.
To his surprise, it worked. The light faded. The pulsating decreased. So he continued with being aggressive, using more of his thoughts instead of his words. In seconds, it settled down and faded slowly until it was gone. For now, he thought, the magic belonged to him.
With a smile, Qenn began to jog north across the beaten path.
For hours he sped across the land without pause. The landscape turned hilly and the murky swamps lost their putrid water for slime and muck. Trees were either rotting or fallen and covered in black moss. Hillsides were barren and boulders jutted skyward in jagged splits that looked like teeth. Birds had not been seen all day, and the small creatures he saw earlier skittering across the waters were absent as well. Everything was plagued. Everything was dying.
Qenn knew the end of the line was coming. The landscape was becoming more desolate the closer he came to the Mrenx Ku. It was a poison, he understood. Not only for the Elves, but for the land. Its sickness would devour all of the lands if he did not stop it. Feeling the warmth of the staff in his hands, he knew the magic would set things right.
-Use me-
Qenn slowed immediately. He had heard the words loud and clear. The voice was deep and familiar. But no one was around.
-Let me free-
It spoke again and this time Qenn nearly dropped the staff as he flinched at its sound, realizing that it was coming from the staff.
Qenn stood still, holding the staff out in front of him, arms stretched to their fullest, eyes wide with curiosity and disbelief. Unsure what to do, he simply replied, “No. I don’t need you yet.”
-Use me now-
“No.”
-Yes-
Qenn grew concerned. The staff began to pulsate quickly. “No!”
He ran then, speeding forward as if his act alone would be enough to force away the power persuading him. He needed a distraction, he thought. He needed something else to occupy his thoughts. Then the power would not be heard. And if he could not hear it, then there would be no confrontation.
So he ran.
He focused on pushing his feet faster, stretching his legs longer and pretending something was chasing him. After a mile he realized that the voice had died. The staff was returned to normalcy. A mile later he slowed and began walking again. He thought about it for a second, trying not to focus too hard on it, not wishing to give it life again. It’s what Kandish had warned, he thought. Magic could gain control over the user if not carefully held in check. He was not sure how, but he knew now that he had to be more cautious with his thoughts. Pressing on with the sun beating down, Qenn began to think of anything else.
The sun swept slowly across the sky and was sinking behind mountains far to the west as Qenn moved his legs over the trail. An hour after the sun set, the sky was lit by the last phase of the moon’s cycle. Qenn found himself staring behind him to his right to see it, noticing that the trail was turning northwest again. The sky overhead reminded him of nights spent in Meadow with Tane as they lied on their backs and stared at the canopy of lights. Some of the lights held life, they thought. Some were lights still shining from stars that had already burned out, Tane had told him. The view reminded him that he was not so alone. Somewhere under the same sky, his brother was looking up and missing him as well. Qenn took one last look at the serenity, then turned his attention to the dismal landscape and the blackened ground beneath his feet. He was anxious to be done with it all.
It was nearing the midnight hour, with the moon shedding shadows across the black, dying objects that the staff began to pulsate a white glow again. Qenn could feel it pressing against his skin. Each time it grew brighter and stronger. He tried to force it back,
to think of it responding to his will, but nothing worked. It was too strong.
He stopped walking then, staring at the staff intensely, expecting that somehow the LifeWaters magic would finally escape and something terrible would come from it. It’s alive, mortal. It will find a way to leave your staff, the LifeWaters words whispered back to him coldly. It was too much power to be held within the staff, it had warned him. And this time, he thought he was going to find out just how right the Faerie creature was.
Then Qenn heard something moving. Instinctively, he pressed the staff close to his chest. And then he saw it. Standing about twenty yards straight ahead, it waited. Qenn had never seen anything so vicious before. He compared it to night-beast, a wild dog-like animal that roamed the woods around the Lower Krune, but it wasn’t.
And yet, somehow it was.
It was tall, several feet taller than himself, appearing as if its body had somehow been stretched unnaturally leaving the chest and waist narrow and spiny. It stood on two heavily muscled hind legs attached to short paws with long claws. Its front legs were long and bent, ending with hooked claws. Patches of hair were missing all over its body, and across its gaunt head there was nothing but blotches in the skin, some bleeding and open.
Qenn knew the only way he was going to survive was if he used the staff. The beast would surely tear him to shreds in seconds otherwise. He could hear it breathing, a deep whine that sounded more like a quiet laugh of anticipation. Suddenly its muzzle split wide revealing rows of jagged teeth. Its tongue came out to frantically lick the air, just before its muzzle began snapping as if it were chewing Qenn’s scent. Cruel yellow eyes stared back at Qenn, waiting.
And then it came for him.
Howling viciously, its bulky legs slammed into the ground as it raced for Qenn, tearing across the ground with its sharp claws shredding the dirt underneath. It was not graceful by any means, appearing as if it did not have full control of its own movements, working hard to balance itself through its quick pace. Qenn panicked. He suddenly wished that he had not left the group, that Kandish was with him, using her magic to destroy the beast before it even came close to him, wishing she was standing beside him now holding his hand.
“No!” he screamed.
Then he became mad. The thought of Kandish being harmed had stirred up feelings that had connected with the power in the staff. He could feel something moving within the wood. He wanted it out. He wanted it to flood across the beast and rip it to shreds. He could feel the energy inside the staff begin to surge and he did not care anymore what it did.
Qenn screamed anew, fierce and demanding, full of rage and anger, deep with purpose and defiance, watching the beast leap for him, watching the evil behind the yellow eyes fixed on him. Claws swiped the air towards his throat, jaws snapped wildly.
Qenn staggered back, thrusting the staff forward to the chest of the beast.
Then it flared.
White light consumed all of what he could see, flooding out of the staff finally. Qenn no longer saw the beast, no longer felt the sense of immediate action, no longer could feel the evil pressing down on him. All he saw was the white flare; the staff ignited before him. Everything went quiet.
Then Qenn felt a sense of urgency, realizing what was happening. The LifeWaters’ power was escaping. But as he had wished to use only enough required to destroy the beast, his Elven senses were warning him that he was losing it all.
No! he cried, trying to save all that he could.
Desperately he began to choke down on the staff, using all of his thoughts, all of his mind control to do so. Beads of sweat formed along his forehead, his jaw clenched tight together, his knuckles white, his eyes nearly shut. Slowly Qenn pushed back the power, forcing it back into its cage. The blinding light dissipated slowly as if the staff was a sponge and it was absorbing the light. In a matter of moments, it withdrew completely.
Qenn was so exhausted that he slumped to the ground immediately. Momentarily forgetting everything around him, he steadied his dizziness and fought back the urge to lie down and sleep. The whimpering he heard helped him regain his consciousness. As his eyes opened fully, he saw a night-beast staring at him a few feet away. It looked scared and confused. Qenn was not sure what its reaction would be, so he protectively brought his staff before him. But the wild dog had seen enough and scampered away quickly, whining painfully as he went.
Qenn watched it until it was out of sight. Something had changed it. Magic had mutated the beast into something very unpleasant. Dark magic, he corrected himself. But the LifeWaters’ power had undone it, allowed it to be free, to be itself once again.
More importantly though, the magic responded to him.
Staring forward once more, Qenn’s smile was nothing friendly.
“Look!” Kandish cried, her arm straight forward, one finger pointing. Far ahead of them, a mile or so down the trail, a white circle of light flared brightly. It lasted for a few seconds, and then was gone. “Qenn!”
An hour later, Kandish and Kamen Ode came across a spot in the trail that drew their attention at once, slowing their strides to a halt. They stared in wonder at the circular patch of lush green grass growing in the middle of the beaten trail. Tired and breathing hard, they used the diversion to rest shortly.
“What do you make of it?” asked Kandish, rubbing one hand through the soft grass.
“It’s not natural, I can tell you that.” Kamen looked around. “Everything else is dead.”
“I have not seen grass like this since we left…” Kandish paused. She realized what she was about to say and thought better of it. Wounds were still fresh.
Kamen saw the look in her eyes. “It’s okay. I was thinking the same thing.”
Then it came to her. Her expression shifted instantly. “Qenn! He must have used the staff!”
“Then he must not be too far ahead. Come on!”
With fresh energy, they raced north in a blur.
Qenn walked under the light of the moon towards a dark hill line made of rock and loose gravel. The Takers’ trail headed straight for it. That’s where the end was, he knew. Swamps barren of water besieged him, the trail turned dry and rock strewn beneath his aching feet. Still he pressed on.
It was well after midnight when the trail ended. Dying trees stood in fallen groves leading up to the small hill line, the rock structure jutting skyward. Sinkholes were clustered in the area around the base, with giant rocks scattered everywhere, fallen from a landslide. And there Qenn saw it. A black hole leading under the mountain, a beaten path disappearing down in the dark. Rocks had almost blocked it from his view completely. But it was straight ahead, the path wound right to it.
And as Qenn began to step forward, the staff awoke brightly.
Coming down a small rise, Kandish and Kamen Ode saw a flicker of light in the distance. It looked like a torch. They said nothing. They knew it was Qenn. The light moved towards the rocky structure then faded away. It lasted a few minutes, long enough for them to get a bearing on the distance between them, then it was gone.
“That’s the end,” cursed Kamen Ode quietly. “The elf will enter without us.”
“No,” Kandish gasped. They sped as hard as they could, running down the hill, still trying to gain on the time. Qenn was only a half-mile ahead now, just a few minutes away. But that was still enough time for him to be destroyed, she thought.
Her stomach began to ache, twisting and turning in knots of desperation and anxiety. Qenn was alone in the time he needed her the most. She felt helpless. She felt scared. She felt her magic begin to stir.
“No,” she groaned to herself, avoiding Kamen’s questionable look. Her vision began to spin; she began to feel light headed. She focused hard on keeping it at bay, on holding it down until it was necessary. For Qenn, she thought. Save it for Qenn.
And it worked. Slowly she gained control. Her vision returned, her aches subsided. She felt relieved; she had not ever had that kind of control before. But it was fo
r Qenn. Her feelings for him were strong enough that she would do what was necessary to protect him.
“Kandish!” Kamen Ode growled in warning as two black objects raced into view from their side. Kamen tackled one to the ground, disappearing in the blackness of a sink hole.
“Kamen!”
Then the other thing was swiping at Kandish. In the dark, it was hard for her to tell exactly what it was. And the multiple of legs striking at her did not give her much time to stare. Instantly she dove and rolled, scrambling to her feet as the screeching sound the creature made came swiftly over her, followed by the slamming of its legs into the ground where she laid.
Kandish was on her feet at once, staring straight ahead. But she didn’t see it. She turned her head in every direction, frantically searching for the creature, but it was nowhere. She yelled to Kamen then; no answer returned. And then she saw something flat against the ground right in front of her. It was long with a circular head and dozens of skinny legs. She froze. It did not know she saw it yet. It was waiting for her to move, she thought. Breathing hard, Kandish did the only thing she could do. Slowly she extended her arms out to her sides, palms facing the creature. The coiling within acted at once, released like water over a crumbling dam. She could feel it surging through her, but she did nothing to prevent it. This time she let it go unchecked.
Suddenly the air around her turned cold and the creature at her feet began to rise, poising to strike its pinching legs into her. But the magic in her was already flaring. Then without warning, it exploded.
When the light died a second later, Kandish crawled off the ground to her feet. The creature was nothing but a smudge against the rocks. She heard Kamen’s voice somewhere ahead and ran for it. She found him in a sinkhole and tossed down a dead tree branch nearby for Kamen to use for a ladder. After he climbed out and checked her over for injury, knowing that she used her magic to save them both, they returned to the trail and raced to find Qenn.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN