Bridgebreaker (The Echo Worlds Book 2) (16 page)

“She can’t run from Grellnot, Grellnot will find yoooouu….”  Its voice, moments ago filled with rage, was once again a sweet croon.  Grellnot raised its head and smiled, then it vanished, leaving nothing but an empty hole in the ground behind.

________

The Slyph appeared in a different place, and in her rush, almost didn’t recognize it.  The ground was burned and cracked, and the burned out ruined husk of a huge oak tree stood over it all.  Oakhearts tree.  She hadn’t returned here since her anger at his mind and spirit letting go.  The Slyph touched a blackened section of bark, wishing Oakheart was still here.  The Slyph did not regret what she had done to him, but she wished she had his power.  Being able to draw on the magic of the human world might be of use to her when it came to her new enemy.

If Cendan Key hadn’t managed to escape, she would have had a new Maker to play with, maybe even two if she had caught him early enough.  She still wasn’t sure how he had managed to escape.  Bridges between the worlds weren’t that common.  She suspected that he had been helped by something or someone here, and that list was not very long; those who would help a human.

A soft pop behind her let her know her time of reflection was up.  Grellnot had arrived.

“Grellnot will always find you.  You cannot run from Grellnot!” its rasping voice came.  “The tree? You not happy when the other stupid human Maker stole the tree away from you, it looks like.  Smells like death to Grellnot.”

Turning toward the creature, the Slyph felt fear once more, but tamed it as best she could.  She was the Slyph!  She was the ruler of this world, creator of life here, master of all she saw.

Grellnot was sitting on a burned rock, picking its teeth with a small piece of bone it had produced from somewhere.

“You cannot run from Grellnot.  Grellnot finds the idea of eating you here, where Grellnot was born, a good one.”  Drool spilled down from the corner of its mouth, stringy and thick.  “Your time is gone.  Grellnot will rule.”

Holding up both hands, the Slyph knew this was it.  She had to either stop Grellnot here, or she would die.  She could not die to this thing.  This stomach with teeth.

“Listen to me, I am your creator!  I am your mother!  You only exist because of me!”

Grellnot stood saying nothing at first.

“Tell me, do you bleed?  Grellnot wants to know.”

The Slyph could see the rising hunger and rage reflected in its eyes.

“Grellnot…” the Slyph started to say, then she lashed out as hard as she could with all the power she had been gathering since the thing appeared.  Weaves of threads tore through the space between them, trying to find some purchase, some way to unmake this thing.

________

Grellnot shook itself.  She was trying to hurt Grellnot!

Its skin burned, and the air around Grellnot grew thick.  Each step was agony, and it would have roared in pain if it could open its mouth.  Grellnot was more than of this world though.  Grellnot was of both worlds, and that saved it.  The threads could not make purchase, the points and specks of light that made up the human world magic simply made the threads slide off of Grellnot.  She could hurt Grellnot, she could slow Grellnot, but the Slyph could not kill Grellnot!

The Slyph felt her fear return, a feeling she hated herself for having.  Her magic wasn’t working!  Unlike the magic of humans, her magic, the magic of this world, followed different rules.  The threads weren’t unraveling, they weren’t ending.  It was bound too tight, too dense for even her, born of this world before all others, to break the wave.

Compressing its rage and hate, Grellnot ran through the weaves the Slyph was throwing at it, bursting through with a thunderclap.  Its jaws crunched down on the neck of the Slyph and began to feed.  The air grew still as the blood filled its mouth.  Blood rich with magic and power.  Grellnot could scream with the joy it gave Grellnot to eat of it.  Silence fell, moving outward across the plains and mountains, forests and swamps, caves and seas.

Creatures and nameless things alike could feel it.  All raised their heads and were afraid.  Grellnot had won.

Grellnot could not feel anything but the power now, connecting it to every living thing on the Echo World.  And all was Grellnot’s to command.  The air, the sun in the sky, the earth beneath its feet.  Darkness fell, a darkness split by howling winds and powerful storms.

“Grellnot has FEASTED!”  It screamed into the falling dark, its joy a palpable thing.

The corpse of the Slyph was thin now, a desiccated fragile thing.  She had only been filled with the power; no flesh to tear, no bone to crack.

“Unsatisfying,” Grellnot muttered as he flung what was left of the Slyph at the base of the oak tree.  “She was right about one thing; humans are good to eat.”  Grellnot laughed out loud.  Reaching out with its new power, Grellnot summoned a new army, an army twice, three times as large.

“Grellnot commands you now!  Come to Grellnot.  Tonight we win!”  Grellnot yelled, the joy in its voice overlaying the storm sounds.  And the creatures came, big and small, many Grellnot knew, but many it did not.  Nameless things from deep underground, blind, but possessed of deep cunning. Flying monsters that were legend even here, on the Echo World.  Grellnot’s world.

Grellnot smiled.  The time was coming.  The Slyph had lost because the Slyph did not understand hunger or destruction.  Grellnot would feast on the human world, feast on its magic, feast on its humans and animals.  Even now its hunger returned, a groaning need to rend and tear.  With a slash of a clawed and gnarled hand, Bridges opened up above the still appearing creatures.

“HUNT!  KILL!  FEAST!” Grellnot screamed as it leaped forward into the closest Bridge.  The time had come.

________

Cendan sat on the bed in his old room at the Bridgefinders liar.  They were locked in, apparently, by a completely insane Marcus.  Jasmine was still out, and he and Heather had no idea where Marcus was, or what his next move would be.

“We need to wake her.  She may at least be able to tell us something,” Heather said, looking at Jasmine.  “And I think we are going to want her help if Marcus does move against us.”  She was right, but it made him feel like a character from a TV show where they wake some poor slob up to answer questions when all the person wants is to sleep.

“I know.  But Jasmine can’t help, with the magic, I mean... she doesn’t know any of it.  Hell, she doesn’t believe in it, though not with the same level of hate and fear that Marcus does, or did.”  Cendan looked down at her.  “But either way, you’re right.  If nothing else, maybe we can get some food and water into her.  She really doesn’t look good to me.”  Standing, he held his key over Jasmine’s sleeping form.  “I don’t know what to do, though.”

Heather gently placed her hand on his and pushed it down.

“Let me handle this.  You’re powerful, Cendan, but this doesn’t require brute force.  Guard the door.”

Cendan reluctantly nodded.  Jasmine was his friend of course, but Heather knew far more about magic than he did.  He had already searched through the saved patterns on the Key from Oakheart, and nothing seemed like it would help in this case.

“You think you can wake her up?”

Heather shrugged.  “Truthfully?  Not sure.  I don’t really know what he did here.  That being said, I have a lot more practice than you at magic.  So the only way to know is to try.”

Cendan didn’t like it, but he knew that Heather was right.

“Just be careful, ok?  Jasmine is…  Jasmine is about the only ally we have here.”  He wanted to say more, but the whole situation between him, Jasmine and Heather was nebulous at best.  There may not even be anything there for all he knew, and even if there was, this wasn’t the time or place to get into it.

To her credit, Heather didn’t make any half snide comments.  She simply closed her eyes, and lightly took her fetish in each hand, touching it with her fingertips only.  Cendan watched with both professional and personal interest.  He noted that Heather often held her fetish differently based on what she was doing; was that doing something?  Or was it just personal preference?  Heather drew the surrounding magic, spinning a pattern that seemed to intersect with each thread of light that connected Jasmine to the lair itself.

“Ok, if this works, I’ll break every connection at once.  That, hopefully, will free her from this trance she’s in.  There’s also a very good possibility that Marcus will know about this the moment I do it,” Heather said, her tone firm.  “Oh, and Cendan, this is going to hurt.  A lot.”

Cendan started to object when Heather ripped the pattern back, breaking each thread.  The pattern around Jasmine fell apart instantly, and just as fast, Heather tensed up, her breath came in a sharp intake, and she collapsed hard on the floor.

“Heather!”  Cendan moved towards her quickly, unsure of what he could do.

“Ow,” Heather mumbled.  “That hurt like a son of a bitch.”  Cendan helped her up as Heather winced and rubbed her temples.  “Did the pattern break?  My head hurts too much to use the sight,” Heather asked, as she sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, it looks like it,” Cendan answered.  “I know you said it wasn’t easy to break someone else’s pattern, but aside from the pain, it didn’t look too hard.”

Heather shook her head.  “Normally it is harder.  That pattern was, well, just odd.  I can’t think of any other way to say it.  And the pain is bad, my head still aches.”

Cendan checked on Jasmine again and Heather nursed the headache she had.  He noticed immediately that her color was back, and she was breathing more deeply.

“She looks better.  Do you think I should try to wake her up now?”

Heather just shrugged in response.  She didn’t really know Jasmine, so she couldn’t say how she’d react, even if she did wake up now.  Cendan, not getting an answer, let out a slow breath.

“Here goes nothing,” he whispered, and gently shook Jasmine.  “Jasmine, can you hear me?”

Her reaction was swift and terrifying.  Her body tensed up, then compressed into a ball, and a low moan escaped her.

“No no no no no,” was all Jasmine was saying, over and over again.

“Jasmine, it’s me, Cendan!”  Cendan was shocked.  What had Marcus done to her?  “Jasmine, you’re safe…”

Jasmine’s eyes flickered to Cendan, then Heather.

“Cendan?  What...  How are you here?  Where am I...?  Marcus!  Oh god, Marcus!”  Her eyes snapped shut. “How did we get out of the headquarters?”

Cendan looked at Heather then sighed.

“We didn’t.  We are still here.  We are… locked in.”

Jasmine’s eyes shot open.  “That means he can…  Cendan we have to get out.  You don’t understand.  Marcus is, he can…”  Tears appeared in her eyes.  Cendan’s shock turned to deep worry.  What in the hell was going on?

“Jasmine, we will do all we can to get out, but I need to know what happened.  Heather and I both do.”  Jasmine nodded slowly, trying to calm down.

“Ok... look...”  She sniffed a bit, her tears stopping.  “Look, Marcus is insane.  Totally insane.  He’s got something he calls the Keystone.  It’s somehow part of this place, something only he can use as the leader of the Bridgefinders.  He’s gone crazy.  He hates you, Cendan, and with that Keystone he can...  He can do things to your mind; things to your soul.”

Cendan just reached down and hugged her.  “You don’t need to say what he did, Jasmine, it’s ok.”

“No!  It’s not ok!” Jasmine yelled.  “Marcus...  He didn’t physically touch me, but… in my mind…  Oh god...”  Tears came again, and Cendan was silent this time.  What could he say?  Heather had opened her eyes by this time, and the look on her face was one of stony resolve.

“Cendan, if he’s got something that can control this place, then he knows where we are, and that lock on the door isn’t going to stop him.”  Cendan felt his stomach drop.  How bad could things get?

Jasmine’s voice, broken and hurt, cut in.

“It is worse.  He’s watching us, right now.  That Keystone lets him.  I don’t know why, Cendan, but he wanted you back here.  He wants something from you.”

Cendan swallowed in fear.  “Do you have any idea what?  Or why?”

Jasmine shook her head.  “I just know he hates you.  Hates you,” Jasmine whispered quietly, her body still huddled into a ball.

“Cendan, if he’s watching us right now, how are we going to get out of here?” Heather asked.

Cendan shook his head in response.  He didn’t have a damn clue.  What was this Keystone thing anyways?  When he’d last seen Marcus, he’d been unhinged, but this was way past that.  Sitting in silence still holding Jasmine, Cendan considered what few options they had.  Sitting in his room here wasn’t going to get them anything if Marcus could see and hear everything they were doing.  They could try to break out forcefully, but he doubted that would work.  Even if Jasmine could be shown enough to help them, he wasn’t sure she was mentally up to the task at the moment.

There was one option, but he hated it.

“MARCUS!” he yelled out loud, startling both Heather and Jasmine.  “I know you can hear me.  Let Heather and Jasmine go, and I’ll stay.  You wanted me anyways, right?  I’ll stay.”

Heather started to say something and stopped herself, but her face, which moments before had been stone and calm, now showed her concern.  Jasmine’s reaction was stronger.

“Cendan, you can’t stay!  You don’t know what he can do.  What he will do.”

Cendan nodded.  “I know.  But that gets you out of here, and Heather.  Maybe with some help from the Shrouded, you all can get me out too, but I can’t think of anything else to do.”

Jasmine looked confused at the name of the Shrouded, but didn’t answer.

“I don’t like it, Cendan.  You’re right, but I don’t like it,” Heather said.  “How can we know he’s going to agree anyways?”

Cendan sighed in response, his shoulders slumped.

“I guess we go to the entrance and see.  Staying here doesn’t get us anything.  I hate it.  I hate being powerless like this.”

Heather stood.  “I hate it too, but you are not powerless, Cendan Key.”  She slowly nodded to him.  Cendan knew she was right, and why she wasn’t saying anything.  The less the watching Marcus knew about what he’d learned already, the better.

Jasmine, however, didn’t know and showed it.

“There has to be a better way, Cendan. This is crazy!  You don’t know what he’s become.”

Cendan felt his face fall.  “I know.  But look; before, you stayed to try to talk some sense into him.  Now, I’m the one to stay to try to talk some sense into him.  We trade positions that’s all.”  Cracking a smile, Cendan tried to put a brave face on all of this.  “I don’t know what else we can do.  He wants me, so I’ll give him me.  Too much other stuff going on, Jasmine.  Heather will tell you once you’re out.”

A glance exchanged between Jasmine and Heather made it clear they didn’t particularly trust each other.  That was fine, they needed to get out.

“Marcus!  We are heading to the exit.  Let them out and I’ll stay,” Cendan yelled out again as they left his room and headed down the hall, Heather and Jasmine in the lead, and Cendan behind.

“Heather, if this works, take Jasmine back to my place.  She can get cleaned up and eat something; fill her in on everything as well.  I’ll do everything in my power to get out of here as well.  Everything I can, at least.”

The entrance to the lair stood before them, the same solid wall.  Once that seemed so normal.  Now took on a somewhat sinister cast.

Jasmine broke her silence.

“My focus!”  She patted herself down, and Heather reached into a pocket somewhere and pulled out the carved wooden flower.

“No worries.  Here it is.”

Jasmine grabbed it and relaxed somewhat as soon as she had it.

“Ok Heather.”  Cendan motioned at the door looking around.

“Cendan, she can’t…”  Jasmine started to say before she cut off watching the exit with an expression of worry and surprise.  “How did she do that?”

Marcus had kept his side of the bargain, apparently, to Cendan’s apparent relief.

“It’s still barred to you, Cendan.  Are you sure you want to do this?” Heather asked.  “I and Rivenwood have a lot riding on you.  This is a distraction from the true threat.”

Nodding, Cendan reached into his pocket and held his focus.

“I know.  But I can’t think of anything else at the moment.  It’s better to get you all out and maybe think of something.  You know what I can do.”  Cendan flashed a smile at Heather.  In all actuality, Heather only knew a tiny bit of what he could do.  Oakheart’s stored patterns would, he hoped, give him an edge on all this.  “Besides, if I can stop Marcus, maybe I can undo anything he did to EVA.  And in the larger fight, EVA will be useful; very useful.”

Jasmine knew there was more not being said than was being said, but kept her mouth shut.

“Let’s go, Jasmine,” Heather said and walked through the transition point.  Jasmine turned to Cendan.

“Be careful.  Marcus Wheeldon is not the same person he once was.  Whatever that Keystone thing is, it’s warped him.  He’s….”  Trailing off, Jasmine gave Cendan a hug.  “Stay safe.”

And she turned, following Heather to the outside, to freedom.

“Yeah, stay safe,” Cendan mumbled to himself.  He turned towards the long hall in front of him.  Opening himself up to the sight, Cendan quickly ran through the stored patterns.  He worked the patterns he thought that might help quickly.  Even ones he wasn’t totally sure what they did.  He copied the one Heather had worked before, the one that protected against a physical attack, adding to it ones he thought, maybe, might disrupt a spell or two that Marcus might throw his way.