The Search for the Shadowsoul, page 16
The Do-Gooders settled back into story time.
“I was searching for the rare fulcruminous snipe, a bird fabled to grant you whatever your heart desires.” He paused for dramatic effect.
“Fulcruminous snipes don’t live anywhere near the Howlwyn,” Forest said. “Why were you looking for a bird that doesn’t live anywhere near the Howlwyn?”
“And that hasn’t been seen in two centuries?” Merlynda added.
Lonny glared at them. “I said it’s rare. Anyway, I was hot on its trail—”
“No, he wasn’t,” Forest whispered.
“—when suddenly, out of the very air itself, an evil cloud of ashen smoke and darkness descended upon me!”
The Do-Gooders (and Forest) gasped. Aunt Prin and the questers rolled their eyes. (Forest joined in when he realized that was the appropriate reaction.)
“I couldn’t see even the bow slung across my back.”
“Probably because it was behind you,” Neci muttered.
“A thunderous cacophony rushed through the trees. Before I could find a defensible position, I was surrounded by enormous fiends! There were hundreds of them, nay, a thousand!”
The questers traded uneasy looks. Despite Lonny’s embellishments, it sounded as if the Horn of Beckoning had been stolen in the exact same way as Merlynda’s staff.
“Excuse me,” an ogre said. “If you couldn’t see anything, how do you know the enemies were enormous?”
“And that there were hundreds of them?” the Dread Count Nyx asked.
Lonny huffed. “Because I have extremely keen hearing. Anyway, they attacked! I valiantly defended myself, but I—yes, even I!—was overpowered by the sheer incredible number of very large enemies. I battled to exhaustion, but it was for naught. When the rogues finally wrested me to the ground, they pried Becky from my strong, supple hands and left me for dead.”
Lonny bowed with a flourish. When no one clapped, he peeked at his audience.
Florentine turned to the ogre. “Wasn’t the day he went surveying the same day he came back from the river whistling?”
“You’re right,” the ogre said. “And he didn’t even gather the wild mint we were supposed to have with our lamb.”
Aunt Prin gave Lonny a square look. “I will remind you that you are beholden to the oaths you swore to the society. Before you were Robin.”
Lonny scowled. “Fine. I took a nap in the clover field, and when I woke up, I was surrounded by darkness and awful skittering.” He shuddered. “Later I realized Becky was gone.”
Aunt Prin kept her voice even. “You didn’t immediately notice that Becky was missing?”
Lonny kicked at a pebble on the ground.
“Thank you, Lonny,” Aunt Prin said. “That will be all.”
Lonny waited a moment, as if expecting applause, or gratitude, or a pat on the head. When none of those displays of affection came, he stood tall and wandered toward a tent.
“Hey, Lonny,” Florentine called. “That’s not yours anymore. That’s Robin’s.”
Lonny scowled, and slunk over to lean moodily against a tree.
Story time over, the rest of the Do-Gooders returned happily to their celebrations, and Aunt Prin began her new duties as Robin. The occasional shadowy familiar darted around the necromancers.
Rafael pulled his lump of copper out. He took deep breaths. “Sit with it,” he muttered. “Sit with it….”
Neci watched as the copper rapidly cycled through shapes. “We know you really wanted to join the Northern Chapter,” she said. “But you haven’t told us why. It’s worth crossing necromancers for, so I imagine it must be of great importance?”
Rafael let out a slow exhale. “My younger cousin… she’s been cursed. I’m looking for a way to save her.” He swallowed. “The Southern Chapter never goes anywhere. But I thought if I joined the Northern Chapter, I’d have a better chance of finding a way to help her.”
“What kind of curse?” Merlynda asked, keen.
“You’ve heard of myuta curses, yes?”
Merlynda and Iggy nodded, but the others shook their heads.
“It’s a double curse,” Merlynda explained. “One curse is started, but by the time the spell finishes, it’s changed into a different curse altogether.”
Iggy looked at Rafael sympathetically. “They are notoriously difficult to break.”
Percy, again, wished he’d done a better job of studying. “What would make the curse change?”
“The caster could do it on purpose,” Merlynda mused, “but that means the final curse is unpredictable. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s usually because another magic got involved by mistake. Something strong, and volatile.”
“Is that why Zahilda doesn’t like mixing magics?” Neci asked.
“Yes,” Merlynda said. “I gather that her brand of witch magic is particularly unpredictable when mixed with another variety.”
“In this case the original curse wasn’t even a real curse,” Rafael said. “It was a little hex. But Emilia had some kind of enchanted metal in her hand, and when the curse hit—”
He stopped, throat tightening. He remembered the terror in Emilia’s eyes when she’d realized she couldn’t move. That terror was still there.
“It’s like she’s frozen. She’s as stiff as stone, clutching the metal. We can’t take it away to study it, to learn what happened, without hurting her.” He took another deep breath. “And… I’m the one who cursed her. But it was a prank! Someone kept playing with my blacksmithing tools. I wanted to catch who it was. It was a little hex, only supposed to stick the shoes of whoever was responsible to the ground. Harmless, yes?”
“But she had the metal,” Neci said, filling in what the others were thinking. A metal of unknown magical properties, that had interacted with the curse.
Rafael fidgeted with his copper. “Emilia can be annoying. She’s always in my workshop, always wants to know what I’m doing…. But I love her. She’s like my shadow, in a good way. If I’d known what would happen, I never would have cast even a teensy tiny spell. Everyone in the Southern Chapter tried to help, but nothing worked. So… I left. To try to find a way.”
The questers stood in silence, giving Rafael a moment. The twins in particular understood about taking drastic measures to save a loved one.
“We’ll help,” Neci said. “Morgan le Fey turned Fang to stone, but Merlynda used her staff to save her. We’ll find the Shadowsoul and get the staff back, and then we’ll help Emilia.”
“But,” Rafael said softly, “what if the Shadowsoul has already Hollowed it?”
No one much wanted to think about that.
“Let’s investigate the clover field Lonny mentioned,” Percy suggested. He seized at the opportunity to do something. “Maybe we’ll find more clues about— Merlynda, your pocket is glowing.”
Merlynda pulled out the small mirror and grinned. “It’s Batu!”
Neci crowded in next to Merlynda and Iggy as Batu’s face shimmered into focus on the mirror. His coal-colored hair still fell in a mop over his light brown eyes, and his tawny skin was a shade or two darker than when last they’d seen him, from time spent riding his boar under the sun. He grinned. “Nikolai said you mirrored. I bartered with a fairy to magic the mirror as soon as I could.”
Percy and Forest stood off to the side while the quartet chattered their hellos. Percy had met Batu, of course. The Rusvokians had flown the questers back to Avonshire after the events at the Omnivia. Percy had mostly kept to himself during that time, too ashamed of his actions and grappling with the reality of them to be much for making friends.
Forest stayed on Percy’s head like a good familiar, even though he itched to throw himself at the mirror. Maybe he’d meet Batu for real one day! Batu had become the leader of the Rusvokian horde of raiders after his uncle Pugachev had floated off into the air as a result of finicky sprite magic. Pugachev had been awful, so nobody missed him much.
“Why did you barter with a fairy?” Merlynda asked. Batu’s ocarina should have been able to activate the mirror.
Batu frowned. “I thought that’s why you called. You don’t have it?”
“Have what?”
“My ocarina. It was stolen.”
A WORD ABOUT BATU’S OCARINA
Batu’s ocarina had been forged from Atlantean coral, a substance so strong that only magic-infused tools could craft and shape it. It had been a gift from the Aether itself, though Batu hadn’t known that at the time. It was beautifully sculpted, teeming with magic, and a powerful item indeed.
Batu was a musician, and the ocarina was an instrument unlike any he’d ever experienced. When he played, he could stop battles, or heal, or comfort, as long as he played whatever he truly felt in his heart. It was not just a single gift, it was a gift that gave to others many times over.
And now, that gift was gone.
* * *
“Stolen?” Neci and Merlynda exclaimed.
Percy crowded in with the others. “Is there any chance it was stolen by lots of tiny skittering creatures after a cloud of darkness descended on you?”
Surprise fluttered across Batu’s face. “How did you know?”
Merlynda swallowed. “They took my staff.”
Batu blanched. “Your staff is missing?”
“And the Horn of Beckoning,” Rafael added, squeezing into the group. “Hello, I’m Rafael.”
Forest couldn’t hold back anymore. He launched himself onto the mirror. “HiI’mPercy’sfamiliarForestdoyouwanttobemyfriend?”
The questers filled Batu in on everything that had happened since the twins had been summoned before the Round Table.
“A Shadowsoul.” Batu let out a low whistle. “We weren’t able to track the thieves. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Can you and your Rusvokians check on the Omnivia?” Percy suggested. “I can’t imagine anyone using it again after how we left it, but… well, Merlyn tried to destroy it too.” And then Percy had rebuilt it to make his Concursus with all of his stolen magic, so it was always possible that someone else might try to do the same. The Omnivia was a particularly powerful site, more easily connected to the In-Between than most other places. Percy didn’t want to underestimate the Shadowsoul.
“We’ll fly to it right away,” Batu said. “We’re not far by boar. I’ll let you know what we find.”
“Hopefully nothing,” Neci said.
The questers said farewell to Batu, then headed off to investigate the where the Horn of Beckoning had been stolen. The trees gave way to a small clearing, and soft clover grew across the ground, cushioning their steps.
They spread out, searching for anything that might be a clue. Iggy even flew up high for a loftier perspective. Percy glanced around, but after a few minutes he decided to stick with his strengths.
He closed his eyes, and reached through the Air—
“Are we gonna do our magic tracker spell again?”
Percy opened his eyes to find Forest peering down at him from the top of his head. “Er. Yes.”
The sugar glider wrapped his cloak close and squeezed his eyes shut, thinking really hard thoughts about the Horn. “I’m ready.”
Percy closed his eyes again, felt for the magic, and felt the threads light up around him. He opened his eyes.
There were the usual threads that accompanied the questers, crisscrossing throughout the clearing, but that was all. Too much time must have passed. Magical threads eventually faded, and he wasn’t nearly as sensitive to them as when he’d been the Hollower.
He sat down, defeated. Which is when he noticed a glow through the clover.
Lonny had said he’d been napping, but no one had yet thought to check close to the ground. Percy gently pressed the clover down around the glow.
There was a thread. Faint, but there.
He whooped and called to the others as he crawled along, following the thread as it zigged and zagged across the field. As soon as it led into the trees, Percy jumped to his feet and dashed along it across the forest floor, over roots and under low branches, never straying too close to the trees covered in thorns or full of the wild magics.
“It ends here,” Percy said, panting before a moss-covered trunk. “Just like the last one.”
Iggy flew up to the tree and circled it, searching. Forest jumped from Percy’s head onto the trunk and scurried around. “Over here!”
The questers rushed to the other side. Forest scrubbed away some moss, to reveal—
“More runes,” Percy said.
Iggy flew back to Merlynda’s shoulder, refusing to look at the not-familiar. “A passable discovery.”
Forest beamed.
Neci pulled out her rune rubbing. “It’s got a few differences, but look—these patterns are the same, and these symbols here.” She pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment and began a new rubbing.
“The Shadowsoul must have these all over the Howlwyn.” Merlynda glared at the runes. “There’s no other way for it to travel so quickly.”
“They might be all over Faelor,” Neci said. She finished the rubbing and carefully labeled it. “Batu was miles and miles away when his ocarina was stolen.”
“I don’t understand the Shadowsoul’s plan.” Rafael took out his copper and idly shaped it into a plumara. “Why does it need all of these magical items?”
“Well…,” Percy said slowly. “I have a theory.”
“Go on, Percy,” Merlynda encouraged.
“A number of things have been stolen and Hollowed.” Percy ticked items off on his fingers. “Among them are the Horn of Beckoning, which is of Air; Batu’s ocarina, which is made from really strong Water elemental coral; and Merlynda’s staff, which is probably the strongest known Aether object in existence. And when I was the Hollower, I needed to steal an enormous amount of magic and connect all of the elements.”
Merlynda inhaled sharply. “Then you do think the Shadowsoul is trying to form another Concursus?”
Percy ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. It’s a good reason to have Batu check the Omnivia, to be safe.”
Forest leapt back onto his wizard’s head, and Percy gestured for them to return to the camp. “Whether or not it’s planning a Concursus, I do think the Shadowsoul is collecting really powerful elemental objects for something. Otherwise, why not just Hollow them and leave them be? It’d be easier than stealing.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “That’s what I did.”
Neci rolled up her new rune rubbing as they walked. “If you’re right, then the Shadowsoul needs an Earth item, and a Fire item.”
“If we can figure out what those items are,” Percy said, “maybe we can find them first, and foil its scheme.” It felt good to have the beginnings of a plan, even if it was a weak one.
“There are so many elemental objects,” Merlynda moaned. “We probably don’t even know about most of them.”
She hesitated, then said, “Why don’t you use your foresight?”
Merlynda knew that even suggesting this was crossing a line. Percy had been reticent to use any of his magic, and she knew he’d leaned on his foresight as the Hollower. But they needed answers, and the Shadowsoul always seemed a step ahead. A peek into the future might be vital to giving them an edge.
Percy recoiled so hard at the suggestion that Forest had to grab fistfuls of hair so he didn’t fall.
“No.”
Merlynda tried to be gentle. “I know it’s not always accurate, but—”
“I said no, Merlynda.” And there was so much finality in his tone that Merlynda took a step back herself.
“Besides,” Percy continued, “we have a magical items expert in our midst.” He pointed at Forest.
“Who, me?” Forest shrank back from all the eyes suddenly on him.
“Yes, you.” Percy gently picked the sugar glider up and held him out. “You seem to know everything there is about magical items.”
“Well, not everything,” Forest demurred. “But I know a lot, sure.”
“Do tell,” Iggy said.
“Um, well…” Forest’s eyes darted back and forth rapidly. “There are warestones and wands and a bunch of different magical swords and a goose who lays eggs that taste exactly like strawberry chocolate and—”
“What about the really powerful items?” Percy interrupted him. “Like the Horn and Merlynda’s staff. Those are the types the Shadowsoul will focus on.”
Forest’s eyes darted back and forth again. “Fire, Fire, really strong Fire…. There’s the Ruby Eternal….”
“That’s been with the Eastern Witches for ages,” Merlynda said. “Zahilda told me they guard it with great zeal.”
“Then there’s the Ring of the Dawn….”
“Lord Dagian has that one in his hoard, doesn’t he?” Percy said. “I remember it from the nursery rhymes.”
Forest’s eyes continued their rapid movement. “The fyrethorn is really powerful—”
“That’s it!” Hope sang through Percy. “The fyrethorn.”
“Only one?” Neci asked. They were nearly to the Do-Gooders’ camp.
“After it blooms, it dies and then leaves behind a single seed,” Rafael said. “My grandmother told me. It’s beautiful when fully grown, yes?”
Merlynda couldn’t help but feel that Percy was grasping at air, though she didn’t blame him. “The fyrethorn hasn’t reincarnated in two generations,” she said gently. “We don’t even know where it is.”
“We do!” Percy felt almost giddy. It had to be the fyrethorn. “Or at least we know where it was a few days ago.”
Merlynda stopped walking. “The de-Hollowing?”
“The seed!” she and Iggy said at the same time.
“I’ll have to thank Mother for forcing me to read about Fire for all those hours,” Percy said. He hoped she and Father were managing. He knew Mother could handle the mob, wards or not, but they’d still be sick with worry.
Forest twisted his little forepaws together. “Did I do a good job?”
“The best.” Percy grinned.
“Hmm,” Iggy said.
“A centaur brought it.” Percy thought back. “She had a black coat, but reddish hair shaped like a shooting star on her flank…. Oh.”
