“You’re awake,” I heard from behind.
I sat up slowly. A vaguely familiar female werewolf sat in a chair, holding a steaming concoction in her hands. “What an interesting life you’ve led.” She took a sip. “You may call me Malzareen.”
I stood on wobbly feet, grasping the wall. “I’ve had an interesting life?”
“Oh yes. Most eventful.” She moved toward me, her footfalls silent on the wooden floor. “Have a seat and something to drink.”
At her invitation, I remembered the delicious chocolate she’d given me. It had made me feel so relaxed. Had she drugged me? “No thanks. I need go.”
“Ah. Well then,” she said in her smooth, silky voice. “Just rest for a moment while you recover.” Her dark eyes scrutinized my every move.
Ignoring her, I stumbled down the stairs, catching my balance against the counter. “I can’t, and how could you know what kind of life I’ve had?” My mind still felt foggy, muffled, like I moved through a thick cloud of cotton candy. “You drugged me, didn’t you?”
She followed, but ignored my comment. “You wear a valuable medallion.”
I sat down on the floor and held my head in my hands, trying to keep one eye on Malzareen through the pain. “It’s just a trinket.”
“I think not. What would you say if I told you I know who it really belongs to?”
“I wouldn’t believe you.”
“But you do. I see it in your eyes, maverick.” Malzareen moved to the window and gazed into the bright morning sky. “He was a great teacher, a revered Ancient. But why he gave you the pendant remains a mystery. Or did you steal it?” She turned back to me.
“I didn’t steal it.”
“I was his student once, long ago,” she mused, turning her mug in her hands.
I squinted, my head beginning to clear. “And I should believe you because…?”
“Because I speak the truth!” she spat from across the room. In three quick strides, she approached me. Reaching out with her long, black claws, she grabbed the pendant. Her fingers burned, the skin sizzling as her hand curved around its gilded edges. She let go with a horrified gasp, and stumbled back.
I grabbed the pendant, thinking it might burn me too, but it felt cool against my hand. I looked up, confused.
“It’s cursed… against me.” She whirled around, a snarl oozing from her yellow fangs. Step by step, she closed in. All I could do was watch. The chocolate drink had left me lethargic and unable to think fast.
“It’s mine! He promised it to me!” she screeched, her claws bared.
I could smell raw meat and blood on her warm breath as she loomed over me.
“I don’t know who you are,” she continued, “or why you have my pendant, but you will take if off and give it to me now!”
I wobbled to my feet, staggering backward, but caught myself against the wall. “I don’t think I’m supposed to.” I struggled along, hoping to reach the door before she grabbed me from behind.
She threw her head back and moaned in agony, her hands fisting at her throat. She fell to her knees in obvious torment. I stared in awe at the frightening sight. “You don’t even know what you have.” She groaned again, shaking her head. “Go then. Go and never come back!”
I wasn’t sure I’d heard right.
“I said, go!” She shrieked, pointing at the door. “Go on your impossible mission. But remember this: you will fail. I have seen it. Your bones will lie forever, bleached on the burning sands of the Legion desert!”
I flew from her cottage on wobbly legs, her words echoing in my mind over and over. You will fail. You will fail.
Malzareen’s words plagued me like a dark shadow as I hurried through the streets back to the inn. A heavy stone of fear weighed down my heart. Were her words true? Had she really seen the future? She’d known about the pendant and my mission. Why not my fate too?
When I arrived at the inn, my friends hounded me with questions, but I pushed past and hurried to my room, slamming the door behind me and falling onto the bed. I knew they were worried, but I was too exhausted, too frightened, to explain.
For the first time since being in this magical world, I felt tears of failure sting my eyes. What was I doing here? I wasn’t a hero, and shouldn’t have been given this job. Incompetency consumed me. Why couldn’t Lauren have found the pendant instead of me? It had appeared there, out of nowhere, right on my desk after I’d played my Warlord game. My computer had flashed white with electricity that exploded around me, and I’d fallen flat on my butt in surprise. The next morning my computer was broken, and the pendant sat on my desk. I couldn’t explain it any more than Lauren could, so why me?
“Zach?” Lauren called through the door. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine,” I mumbled into my pillow.
“Everyone’s worried, Zach. Open the door.”
I ignored her, turning over and pulling the blankets over my head. I fell asleep only to have nightmares invade my dreams.
I stood on a lonely field. Dead wheat stalks surrounded me. The hazy, gray sky darkened, and thunder and lightning exploded in the distance. A cold wind blew, chilling me to the bone. I stepped forward dragging a steel sword behind me.
I came to a clearing, black from a recent fire. A huge man—bigger than I’d ever seen before—stood at its center, his eyes glowing red through thick, heavy armor.
“I am ready for you, Zach Marriott,” the nightmare said, his voice deep and threatening.
I tried to lift my sword to defend myself, but couldn’t.
The man laughed, swinging a four-foot-long double-sided axe back and forth in a figure eight.
My heart raced in my chest. How could I fight this demon? I was alone and had no powers. I took a step backward, wondering if I should run. The man lumbered toward me until he was only three feet away.
“You cannot defeat me,” his voice rasped. “Do not even try.”
I stumbled beneath my sword’s weight, and the man lifted his weapon effortlessly… and swung.
I woke, sweating and gasping for breath, the sorceress’s words echoing in my mind.
You will fail.
I collapsed back to the pillow, sweating and shivering in my damp blankets, with a terrible feeling that I knew who the dark man was. Something warned me that I would meet this foe face to face very soon. How would I battle a man with such power? A man who had the Eye of Tanúb?
I’m too tired to be mad. Once again, Zach stole my book, and I’d even hidden it in a really good place, but he’s right. The stuff he wrote was good… interesting… and necessary. I might even let him write again… but not in pen. -Lauren
The next morning, no one said a word as we packed and mounted up. Kirth nodded, and off we rode. The next town was an all-day ride—over the hills. The terrain turned from beautiful, lush and green, to a dry, reddish brown. Trees became scarce, and cacti grew abundantly. I’ve always hated the desert, and Zach’s next words echoed my feelings exactly.
“I hate this place. I always have.” He sounded depressed, and spoke to no one in particular.
“How do you know?” Kirth asked. “Have you been here before?”
Zach glanced up, seeming surprised that anyone had heard him. “Uh, well, No. I’ve just never been a fan of the desert.”
Kirth gave him a funny look. “There’s something you aren’t telling me.”
Zach frowned and stared at his reins, then took a deep breath “Back in Glistendale, a sorceress gave me hot chocolate to drink. I think she drugged me. She said she knew the man who gave me this pendant.”
“What?” I fairly screeched. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
He ignored me, probably not wanting to explain in front of everyone. Kirth studied Zach as though he could see right through him. It kind of gave me the chills.
“Did she say who it was?” I asked.
“No,” Zach answered. “Anyway, she said she could see my future, and that I would fail on thi
s quest. That I would die.”
Kirth nodded, deep in thought. “Zach, I feel I should tell you something. I don’t know quite how to say it, so maybe I should just come right out with it.”
I pretended I wasn’t listening, because it seemed like Kirth wanted to talk only to Zach, but I kept my ears open. I didn’t like being left in the dark, and I couldn’t count on Zach telling me later. Not with how weird he’d been with Dardanos and me lately.
“Okay,” Zach said slowly. “You can say anything to me, you know that.”
“All right.” Kirth straightened in his saddle and moved his mount closer. “I think I should be the one to wear the Pendant of Power.”
I nearly slid off my saddle. This was not what I had expected Kirth to say. I could see that Zach was having the same reaction. His mouth hung open, his eyebrows were stretched clear to his hairline, and he’d even dropped one of his reins.
“What? Are you serious?” he gasped.
“I trained to wear it years ago. The pendant has been in my family from the beginning. My grandfather created it.”
Zach looked as though he’d been sucker punched twice now. The pendant belonged to Kirth’s grandfather?
Kirth continued explaining, oblivious to Zach’s dismay. “I think that maybe it was meant to come to me. I wouldn’t be on this quest if it weren’t for you.” Kirth turned to him with an embarrassed smile, but with an eagerness that surprised me. “I’ve been hiding from my destiny for a long time, not wanting to take up the mantle that was meant for me. I can’t help but wonder if you were brought here to help me see this.”
Could Kirth be right? Was that Zach’s mission? Maybe he wasn’t meant to defeat the Warlord at all. Maybe it was Kirth’s destiny, and fate had brought them together to accomplish it.
“Uh, geez, Kirth. I don’t know. I don’t know what to think, but you could be right.” Zach said hesitantly.
“That’s what I thought too.” Kirth nodded and gave Zach an encouraging grin. “We were brought together to help each other. I’m sure of it.”
The more I thought about it, the more right it sounded. The pendant should be Kirth’s. But as soon as the thought left my mind, a dull ache filled my chest. How could we give it up? I’m sure Zach didn’t want to. It gave him confidence, a sense of purpose, a feeling of power. I’d seen it myself. Zach was a totally different person here, and I wondered if he was having these very same thoughts. I wished I could ask, right then and there.
And what if Kirth was wrong?
“Would you like me to take it now?” Kirth asked him, stretching forth his hand. “It might be a good idea in case we run into trouble.” Kirth must have noticed Zach’s horrified expression because he pulled back, immediately contrite. “Oh, Zach. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push you. Really.”
I could see Zach trying to pull himself together, that this was all happening too fast. He probably didn’t want Kirth to be mad at him either, or think he was selfish. He’d told me earlier about his crazy nightmare last night, and that it had made him begin to doubt himself, his mission, and his purpose here in his game. And worst of all were Malzareen’s words that I couldn’t seem to erase from my mind. I didn’t want my brother to die, or to have his bones lying bleached white in the Legion desert forever, our parents never knowing what happened.
“No, no,” Zach said, “You’re right. It belongs to you.” He slipped the chain from his neck. “You should wear it. It’s only right.” And handed it over. Immediately, I saw his shoulders slump, and he looked incredibly fatigued. An incompleteness settled around him like a muddy aura, and I could tell he was very depressed. I wanted to put a reassuring arm around his shoulders, tell him he’d done the right thing, the unselfish thing, but I felt uneasy about it too. I couldn’t explain it, or put my finger on it exactly, but I mourned Zach wearing his magic medallion.
“Thank you, Zach,” Kirth said reverently as he placed the Pendant of Power around his neck. “You’re doing the right thing. You’ll see.”
“Yeah.” Zach stared straight ahead. “So, did you know the werewolf sorceress then?”
Kirth stumbled over his next words, seeming hesitant to answer. “Uh… no, of course not. I just remember she was a student of magic. She studied with my grandfather as an apprentice.”
I rode closer, so I could be in on this part of the conversation… casually, of course. “Huh. That’s interesting.”
Zach didn’t really talk anymore, so I tried to hold up the conversation, hoping to learn something about this sorceress, but the conversation died anyway, and I let my mount slow, falling behind our tiny leader.
After a few hours of riding, Kirth turned in his saddle and addressed us. “The last large Guild city is only a day’s ride from here. Once we get there, you can all train before we enter Legion land again.” He wiped his forehead and smiled. He looked radiant and happy. Zach slouched farther in his saddle.
“Which city is that?” I asked. Dardanos had his arms around my waist, as he’d let me “drive” our tiger. I’d found it very exhilarating at first, but now my legs and backed ached, and I couldn’t wait to get off.
“The city of the pixies,” Kirth said with pride. “My city. Oakenfield. The home I haven’t seen in years.”
“Wow! That is so cool! Is your family there?” I asked.
“I don’t know why you’re so happy. It’s not like pixies are that cool,” Zach mumbled so only I could.
“Yes, Lauren. They are,” Kirth answered, speaking about his family, I assumed. I don’t think he heard Zach’s comment. At least I hoped he hadn’t.
“Are you married?” I asked, leaning back against Dan’s chest and taking a long swig from my canteen.
“I was once, but my bride no longer lives. She was killed during a siege on Oakenfield over fifty years ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I glanced away and didn’t say anything more. What do you say to something like that?
Kirth waved his hand, like it didn’t matter anymore, and continued. “I have three children. Two sons and a daughter. They don’t know we’re coming, so let’s not waste time!” He threw his weight forward, and his spider clicked its fangs, springing ahead, its legs spinning like a pinwheel. Kirth laughed out loud, and his excitement was contagious.
The desert gradually made way for tall, fat oak trees and swaying green grass. Patches of wild berries grew along both sides of the road, while squirrels and birds flitted through the canopy of leaves overhead. I loved how the branches created boughs over the road, shading us after our long day of riding in the sun.
“Oakenfield is lush throughout,” Kirth explained. “The pixies are proud of their vast green gardens. Our city is the most verdant of all.”
We rode straight through the gates into the center of town. Oakenfield was even more wonderful than I had imagined, but then, every city we’d visited had been. Ivy, with its dense green fingers, grew thick with white flowers over the walls of the buildings. Beautifully crafted stones covered the walkways. Flowers in a multitude of colors adorned every threshold… and the smell! The perfumed breeze was intoxicating. I felt drugged with my first whiff.
I said as much to Kirth.
“You have been drugged, Lauren. The flowers have a magical effect on everyone, making you relaxed and happy. That’s why we plant them. There’s no crime in Oakenfield due to the flowers.”
“We need some of these where I come from,” I said, hoping they’d help Zach feel happy again.
Kirth led us to a quiet inn where we checked into rooms. “I’m going to look for my family, so I’ll see you all later,” he said with a wave.
A wide emerald lawn spread out before us, across from the inn. Children ran over its wide expanse, squealing as they played.
“Oh, look! A park.” I clasped my hands with yearning. “I wish I had a good book. I’d lie down on that green grass and laze the day away!” I leaned on a fence post with longing in my tired bones.
“There’s
a bookstore nearby,” Dardanos mentioned with a smile. “Want me to take you?” His eyes were soft as he gazed at me.
Zach took a deep breath next to me, and I waited for the rude comment I was sure he itched to say, but he ended up saying nothing.
“I’d love it!” I answered, taking Dardanos’s giant hand in mine. We left Zach standing there alone. We walked away, gazing into each other’s eyes.
As we walked into the park, I relished the feel of Dan’s large, rough fingers surrounding mine, his hard muscled arms hugging me from time to time. I mused on the thought that most girls here were married with a baby by the time they were sixteen, and if I stayed, I wouldn’t have to wait. I could be with Dardanos, and live in one of these beautiful cities for the rest of my life.
Shaking my head, I laughed at my silliness. No matter how much I loved Dan, I couldn’t stay. What about my parents? My friends? School? College? And on and on…
On the other side of the park, Dardanos led me through a low, rounded door, where shelves from floor to ceiling held hundreds of books, their colorful spines begging to be pulled off the shelf and read. I caught my breath at the sight and searched for romance stories—my favorites—reading a piece of each, wanting to pick the best for my guy and I to read together. I settled on one about a handsome prince falling for a lowly peasant girl. Clichéd, I know, but whatever. Dardanos paid for it, of course.
We ambled slowly to the park, my head resting against his arm. I loved the way it flexed when he squeezed my hand, and I never grew tired of watching him. The crinkles around his eyes deepened when he smiled, and I loved to listen to his voice, deep and hypnotizing. The longer I knew him, the more I didn’t want to leave him. My heart ached at the thought of being separated. Would I find anyone who even compared in my world?
Dardanos spread his cloak on the thick grass then straightened the corners, smiling the whole time.
“Dardanos, I… want to thank you for… well, for the wonderful time I’ve had,” I whispered softly. “I know it hasn’t been long, but… oh, this sounds stupid.” I couldn’t help the blush that crept up my neck and spread to my face as I lowered my eyes, feeling, yes, bashful.