Necromancer's Curse Read online

  Since they had left the White Tree, they had traveled non-stop, following Isaac. Corbin shared Siribel’s vision with his friends, but Isaac had remained tight-lipped as to their destination. Though the cryptic nature of their path annoyed Logan, Corbin trusted the mage implicitly. Let Isaac enjoy his little games of intrigue, as long as it meant reuniting with the woman he loved.

  “Can you blame me? I’m just excited to get back to our people and see Elise.” Corbin grinned, lifting his voulge from the grass and strapping it at an angle on his back. The polearm fit snuggly behind him, resting so that the curved blade at its tip was safely above his shoulder.

  Logan sobered up and clasped his younger brother’s shoulder. “I am too, Corbin,” he said with heartfelt sincerity. Knowing Elise had made it safely to Malbec had been a huge weight lifted off both of their shoulders.

  Isaac whistled to get everyone’s attention. “It is time we were on the road, my friends. Shall we saddle up and be on our way, as they say?”

  Logan shook his head and murmured to Corbin, “Who is they? Who has ever heard anyone say that before?”

  Corbin climbed on his red elk, patting her thick furry neck and whispering in her ear, while his companions followed suit. Each had their own elk, with the exception of Bipp, who took turns riding with either Logan or Nero. Once they were all ready, Isaac led the way out of the forest toward the Dùr Cliffs. They found it was easier on the elks to travel in the open, though the dizzying height of the cliffs sometimes made Corbin feel as though he was walking on air.

  Speaking of Elise made his mind wander, daydreaming of her blonde curls and twinkling blue eyes. He liked to picture the way one side of her mouth smirked playfully when she looked at him. Corbin often found himself daydreaming of the day when he could hold her in his arms once more. After everything they had been through over the last couple months, he could not wait to be with his fiancée. Sometimes it seemed as if decades had passed since he and Logan had left Riverbell, and he wondered if he would ever see that village again. Sometimes Corbin wished the three of them were children again, running around Riverbell without a care in the world, playing pirates and squids. How merry their childhood had been in that peaceful home, how simple and benignly indifferent that time was.

  Logan leaned from his elk and patted Corbin’s back. “Daydreaming again?”

  Corbin blinked, realizing they had already been traveling for some time. In front of them, Bipp was speaking excitedly with Nero and Isaac, and the daystar, Themis, was already high in the sky, marking noontime. “Yes,” he admitted, “I guess I just can’t wait to get back.”

  “I know how you feel. I’m looking forward to seeing Elise again too,” Logan admitted. “I just guess I’m not too keen on crawling back underground and leaving the surface behind.”

  Bipp perked up and nudged Nero to pull back, sidling their elk between the brothers. “What are you on about? All you’ve done since we came up out if Vanidriell is piss and moan about the heat. And there’s been no love lost between you and the night sky either. Now you’re talking about regretting going back home?”

  Logan’s face turned sour at the mention of the sky. “The damned stars are creepy. I mean, how many of them can they cram up there anyway?” He shuddered and bent closer to his elk’s neck as if he feared being sucked up into the sky. “The whole thing gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

  Bipp mouthed the words heebie-jeebies and chuckled. “Well, I’m looking forward to seeing Dudje again.”

  “You mean you’re looking forward to seeing Clara again and showing off that you’re a surface traveler now?” Logan coyly teased.

  The gnome’s face grew two shades redder, and he rubbed his oversized nose while stammering haughtily.

  Logan let him off the hook and changed the subject. “It probably wouldn’t be that bad if I didn’t have to travel twenty leagues to get back to Vanidriell. I still don’t see why we couldn’t just go back through the Citadel to get home.”

  “Hmm, let me see if I remember the answer to that one.” Corbin pretended to ponder, tapping his lower lip. “Oh yeah, I know, because you blew up the damned bridge into Ul’kor!”

  Logan laughed as he recalled laying waste to the ancient bridge that served as their only access point to their homeland. “Oh yeah, there is that. I guess that’s a good point. But where the heck is Isaac taking us anyhow?”

  “To the Horseshoe Mountains, dear lad,” Isaac called back without turning to face them.

  Logan pulled his elk up next to the mage so he could see his face. “Why there, though? Why go up a mountain to travel down into the depths of the planet? Seems counterintuitive to me.”

  Isaac smirked. “Using big words today, I see? Must be all that rest and relaxation has done some good for your intelligence.”

  “Hey now, there’s no need…,” Logan retorted, though in honesty he did feel one part ashamed and two parts wounded.

  “Never you mind,” Isaac said. “Your extra snoozing has not bothered me. I say rest up and gather your strength, for you are going to need it soon enough.”

  Corbin and Nero had pulled their elks up beside Isaac too, and all listened intently. It was the first time the mage had answered their persistent questions about their destination.

  “But to flesh out the fundamentals of your question, which surely comes from a misconception that the world operates by rules of gravity alone, let me answer you. Many of the mountains you see are just that, a collection a rock that has clashed together for millennia, as tectonic plates grind eternally against one another.”

  Bipp mouthed tek-tonic, thinking it sounded like a good name for a dance style.

  “However, there are some, like Mount Sagnes at the center of the Horseshoe Range, that were once great volcanoes spewing forth rivers of lava onto the surface and creating miles of fertile land. Think of them as potential shafts into the underground realms from whence you came.”

  “But how can you be sure this Mount Sagnes is the place Siribel saw in her vision?” Corbin asked.

  Isaac only smiled wolfishly. “You will see soon enough.”

  Chapter 2

  “Are you sure we have to let her go?” Bipp asked with red-rimmed eyes as he fed his red elk some leftover pusta root. “I don’t think it’s safe for Sadie to be on her own out there.”

  Behind him, Nero and Corbin were already pulling their mounts’ saddles off.

  Isaac ruffled the gnome’s silver mop of hair as if he were a child. “I am sorry, but the next leg of our journey would be far too treacherous for these beasts. And besides, how would these elks survive underground?”

  Bipp shrugged the mage’s hand away and threw him a scowl. “Plenty of elks live in Vanidriell. Shows what you know.”

  Logan watched the exchange with mild annoyance from the other side of the elk, where he too tenderly patted the soft fur lining Sadie’s neck. It was just like Isaac to be benignly indifferent at a moment like this. Logan knew the mage did not mean any offense. It was just his nature to be blind to such standard things as emotions.

  “I know how you feel, Bipp. After all these long miles, the last thing I want to do is leave Sadie behind. But you have to know Isaac’s right. That path is going to be dangerous enough for us to travel as it is. How would we feel if we forced her to climb that pass and she slipped?”

  Bipp followed his friend’s gaze up the steep mountain pass that loomed before them. The wide open cliffs had tightened considerably. The forest shot straight west, following the curve of the mountain, while their path curved in an almost horseshoe pattern, one that stretched for miles, climbing ever higher as it went. There was maybe enough room on that trail for two gnomes to walk abreast, and the edge was a sheer drop from a dizzying height to the lush valley below.

  The gnome nodded begrudgingly and relinquished his hold on Sadie’s reins. Logan gave his friend a curt nod and smiled forlornly as he removed her bridle.

  They led the three red elks to the edge of the
forest to say their goodbyes. Sadie lingered, which made it that much harder for Bipp. Logan gave her a firm slap on the backside to get her moving, and the elks took off through the trees at a gallop. Bipp looked tearful watching Sadie slip into the woods, and Logan could think of no words that would ease his friend’s sorrow. He had grown quite attached to the red elk since they left Belikar, considering her more than a mere pet, and it was with a heavy heart they parted ways.

  They had turned to head back to camp when the sound of rustling leaves came from behind. Bipp’s face lit up when he saw Sadie stretch her long neck around the corner of a bush to look at him.

  “We have to part ways now, girl,” he said with a wave. “You stay safe, and mayhap our paths will cross again in this world, if Ohm allows.”

  The oversized elk shifted around and kicked her hind legs into a nearby tree before raising her long neck into the air and barking in response. Logan felt that the beast was saying her own farewell in return. He joined Bipp in waving as the other two stags came prancing back around her. Bipp laughed delightfully to see her dash away, a reddish brown blur slipping into the woods with her companions, free and wild, the way they were meant to live.

  Their step was much lighter when they returned to camp. Even upon spying Corbin and Nero covering the saddles with a layer of branches and leaves, nothing could shake their mutual feeling of contentment.

  “Why do we need to hide the saddles?” Logan asked his younger brother.

  “Probably don’t,” Corbin replied. “But I’d rather err on the side of caution. There’s no telling whether another city-state’s Jotnar might come looking for us, and if they do, I’d just as soon we don’t leave them a trail of breadcrumbs back to Vanidriell.”

  “Fair enough,” Logan agreed, strapping his pack tightly around his shoulders and chest.

  Isaac stood at the edge of the cliff, seemingly contemplating something in the distance. Logan tried to follow his gaze but saw only clear blue skies with far off patches of fluffy white clouds. The mage watched and waited in silence as his companions gathered the rest of their supplies. When they were ready to go, Corbin discussed a marching formation with the mage, and they fell in line. Isaac stepped to one side and waved for Nero to lead the pack, with Corbin behind him, and then stepped into the middle of the single file formation.

  “Mind the edge and keep a lookout for rockslides. They look to be fairly common here,” Isaac said.

  Bipp fell in line behind him on the narrow ledge, and Logan took up the rear.

  After a short time of hiking, Logan began to daydream. At first he found himself taken in by the beauty and grandeur of the Horseshoe Mountains, which from a distance looked to be made up of green rock, but up close were revealed to be covered in a blanket of plant life from head to toe. It was not hard to see where the mountains had gotten their name. His eye followed the range to the right, where it curved around the thick forest filling the valley below.

  Even the narrow ridge they traversed was blanketed in long, creeping vines and thick, spongy lichen that ran down the towering mountainside on his left. When the daystar hit the moss, it seemed to flicker between a rich green and a blue-like sheen, as if covered with some oily substance, though it was not slippery at all to the touch.

  He wondered how the exotic long-stemmed flowers, with their creamy white petals and multi-colored centers, could grow in such a rocky environment. But they’re really not growing on the rock, are they? he thought, noticing how the flowers’ thick, waxy roots grew out of the dense vines and moss.

  Every so often a hawk would swoop down to land on a nest perched against the sheer surface above. The first time, it happened so suddenly that Logan was startled and jerked his head sharply to the side, catching the wind with his wide-brimmed hat. He watched it fly away, down the side of the cliffs, and glowered at the bird. However, he found he could not hold onto his ire at the birds for very long. There was something almost sad in the hawks’ eyes as they looked down from their aviaries that resonated with him.

  Logan frowned and stared ahead at his friends. All of them were in such a hurry to get back to Vanidriell, each for their own reasons, and he could fault none of them for it. Bipp ached to see his homeland again and let everyone know he was safe. Isaac was all about business. He had made an oath to help them destroy the foul crystal sentience that harried their people, and he intended to keep it.

  However, Logan could not help noticing the mage carried himself with an air of determination that said he wanted to get the job done and get back to the White Tree as soon as possible. Logan could well understand that. There was still much to do on the surface now that they had rattled the hornet’s nest and stung the behemoth that was the Jotnar Empire.

  And then there was Nero. Logan wasn’t actually sure what had motivated the android to join them. They had certainly formed a mutual bond during their time scouring Ithiki for the Aegis, but if Logan was being honest with himself, he had no idea what was going on inside the mechanical man’s head. Do androids even have thoughts? he brooded. He could not comprehend what could make Nero want to go down into the bowels of Acadia, and he decided it was a question worth asking next time they stopped.

  Corbin, on the other hand, was an open book. He had one reason to race back to their homeland in the Kingdom of New Fal, and her name was Elise Ivarone. Logan pictured the girl they had grown up with in Riverbell, little Lisie with her blonde curls and laughing blue eyes. The memory made him smile.

  She was one of his dearest friends, and it warmed his heart to think she had fallen in love with his younger brother. As children, the three of them had been practically inseparable. Heck, there was even a time when she was knee-deep in whatever mischief Logan was about.

  But that was before Elder Morgana selected Elise to be her successor as leader of their small hunting village. Once that happened, she was dragged into endless lessons and quickly converted. She was still Lisie, just a more responsible version. In fact, now that he thought on it, that was around the time Corbin began taking his apprenticeship as one of Rimball’s hunters more seriously as well.

  He snickered, and Bipp looked back at him questioningly. Logan shook his head to tell him everything was fine, and they resumed their hike up the mountainside. Again Logan felt that tug in his heart, thinking of going home. He knew what he was feeling but had not voiced it to any of his companions. Quite simply, he did not want to go back.

  Sure, when Elise and the people of Riverbell were in danger, his first instinct had been to run home and help save them. But now that she had communicated to Corbin, through his strange, newfound telepathic prowess, that the remaining villagers had arrived safely in Malbec, the neighboring underground kingdom, Logan found the idea of returning to New Fal almost unbearable.

  There were so many reasons for this.

  All his years in dull Riverbell, Logan had only dreamed of a life of adventure. And now here he was, exploring the surface, which was long said to be destroyed in the Jotnar Invasion. To the people back in Belikar, he was a hero, the amazing Logan Walker who turned the tide of the Belikar Revolution and wielded the Aegis, even if it was for a short time. Everywhere he went in the newly occupied city, he was greeted with looks of admiration and gratitude. Back there, people respected him. Back there he could settle down and live as nobility, with his pick of a castle, even.

  Logan pictured lying about while servants brought in fine clothing and exotic foods and blacksmiths expertly crafted battle armor so he could take the field once more. In Belikar, he had no doubt there would be no end of beautiful women throwing themselves at him. And truthfully, he felt waves of guilt every time he thought of Kyra and Stur having to face whatever might come next once the Jotnar Empire realized Belikar had fallen to the Acadians.

  The path ahead was nothing like that. It led to a land where he was exiled through the nefarious works of a corrupt magistrate. He was a casualty in the corrupt Fafnir’s bid to rise in power.

  Even ba
ck home, no one thought much of him. All his life he had been met with false smiles from the villagers of Riverbell. They would say Hello, Logan, but what they meant was There goes Logan Walker, the disobedient boy who got his mother killed, the lazy good-for-nothing who shirks his duties.

  They thought he was stupid, but Logan heard the way some parents used him as an example to warn their children from misbehaving. Would you want me to end up like Melinda Walker, dead in the woods because you can’t behave for five minutes? The first time he heard such a thing was when Mrs. Folt was scolding her son for leaving his toys out, causing her to slip and spill the laundry all over the yard. She saw Logan too late, and he ran into the woods to hide where no one could see him crying. He stayed there until the next morning when Elder Morgana came out and gathered him up in her comforting arms.

  Logan felt an ache in his heart. He missed Morgana. She was the only person he ever really respected in Riverbell.

  Why should he return to save these people who turned their noses up at him? How was it his responsibility to combat a creature as powerful as the sentient crystal, Baetylus? He did not owe them anything. Those people had shunned him all his years, and now he was expected to risk life and limb for them when he could be back in Belikar enjoying the fruits of his labor?

  Elder Morgana’s words rang hollowly in his mind. Even fools need looking after. He rolled his eyes at the notion and snorted derisively.

  But how could he tell Corbin all of this? How could he share his misgivings with his best friend, Bipp, who was so excited to see Dudje once more? Logan held a small hope that Mayor Fimbas would hold true to his word and offer him a permanent home among the gnomes. That at least would bring some small measure of happiness to his life.

  A white hawk flew overhead, and his eyes followed it then rested on his brother, who stoically led their climb up the steep green mountain. Who was Logan fooling? He knew that he was only doing this for Corbin. He could never live with himself, knowing his brother was marching into the very heart of danger alone. He would travel as far and long as it took to finish Corbin’s quest and then, once they were all settled back into their homelands, he would take his leave and journey back to the surface with Isaac, where he intended to spend his days seeking adventure alongside the Acadians.