Bridgebreaker (The Echo Worlds Book 2) (17 page)

He needed to get to the Maker wing.  If he was going to find anything out about this Keystone thing that would be the place to start.  Holding his focus tight, he headed that way, avoiding the larger rooms where maybe Marcus could attack him easier.  The only sound he heard was his own footsteps.  All else was still, silent.  Even the barrier room door, as he passed it by, showed nothing.  All the lights were out.

For a split second he debated entering that room and seeing if Marcus was there.  It had always been one of his favorite places.  Finding out about the Keystone was more important though.  Cendan needed information.  Information on what he was dealing with, and why Marcus had gone off the deep end.

The Maker wing was in a state when Cendan arrived.  Books thrown all over the place, torn pages, and store rooms where things had been knocked off shelves.

“Great.  A mess!” Cendan grumbled.  He started searching through the books, looking for anything that mentioned the Keystone.  He figured that Marcus must have found out about it here.  There wasn’t any mention of it before Cendan had opened this area up.

Finally, thirty minutes into his search, he found it.  As he read, he knew what had happened, and why.  The Keystone had been created to be a focus.  A focus ‘plus’, Cendan liked to think of it as.  The plus part being its ability to control the headquarters, completely.  And anything and everything in it.  It allowed the user to work the magic that made up the place, and reuse that magic to any endeavor the wielder saw fit.

But its power was flawed.  If the user still was ‘bound’ to another focus, the Keystone’s power wasn’t fully synced with the other person.  And the imbalance would warp the holder, change them.  Cendan paused and reread the last words.  The Keystone would change him, permanently.  Due to this, the Keystone had been locked up and away.  Locked up from anyone trying to use it.

So that explained it.  Marcus was till bound to his ring.  The Keystone had to be used by itself, or it would warp and change the wielder.  All their darkest thoughts and desires would be released; all those demons would surface.  The jealousy that Marcus felt about Cendan had become overarching hate.  The desire that he felt for Jasmine had become a dark craving to hurt her, to express power over her.

A madman with a magic stone that gave him total control over the place where Cendan was locked up.  A madman who hated Cendan now with every part of his very soul.  And a madman who, very likely, was watching and waiting to make his move.  But why did he want me here Cendan wondered?  While the information on the Keystone answered a great many questions, some it didn’t.  What was it that made Marcus want him here, besides hate?  If it was as simple as that, Marcus would have attacked him and Heather as soon as they walked in.

No, there was something else going on.  A growling stomach reminded Cendan that he hadn’t eaten anything in hours.  He was hungry, tired, and more than a little stressed out.  He grabbed a journal for reading material, and headed towards the kitchen, keeping a grip on his focus the whole time.  He was three corners away from the kitchen when Marcus stepped around the corner.

Marcus.  He looked terrible to Cendan’s eyes.  Thinner, approaching skeletal.  His skin pulled tight against his bones.  Scraggly patchy hair grew in around his face, his hair limp and greasy looking in the flickering light.  He said nothing, starting at Cendan with a maniacal grin.

“Marcus.  Nice to see you,” Cendan said trying to stay calm.  “I know what you have, Marcus.  The Keystone.  You need to understand; it’s twisted you, it’s unsafe…”

Marcus’s hand shot forth holding a small stone sphere; the Keystone.

“Mine.”  Marcus growled and attacked.  Cendan could see the torrents of magic flow off the Keystone and towards him.  He pulled as much as he could into the wards he had set and steadied himself.  He felt as if a giant wave had come and tried to knock him over.  He stumbled, but didn’t fall.  Gasping for breath, Cendan held up a hand.

“Wait...  Marcus...”  Anger crossed the crazed face of Marcus.  Why hadn’t Cendan collapsed?  Marcus struck again, and then again...  Cendan didn’t fall.

Cendan, for his part was barely holding on.  Each wave seemed to come from everywhere, and he was having a hard time keeping his wards up.  The only blessing he had was the fact that Marcus didn’t really understand the power he had, or that he was using.  Cendan was buffering his wards with the very same magic Marcus was using to attack him with!  But being how Marcus didn’t understand, and couldn’t see the magic, he didn’t know that.

It did not, however, make withstanding the attacks any easier.  Each time Marcus tried to overwhelm him with magic, he had to fight, even scrabble to stay above it.  He knew Marcus was trying to knock him out, and that was something he was not about to let happen.  Each attack made Marcus angrier, however.  As each one failed, the rage got closer to the surface.

“FALL!” Marcus screamed, as he threw the biggest attack yet.

Cendan stumbled to his knees, but still didn’t fall.  All his concentration kept on keeping his wards up.  Finally, with an incoherent scream, Marcus charged him and swung the stone at his head.  A sound like a bell went off as the sphere impacted on his last ward.  Cendan fell at that, curling up into a fetal position on the floor.  Marcus, however, felt like his head was being torn in two; one part the old Marcus, the other this new violent monster.

“Wha…” was all he could say for a second.

Staring at Cendan, his face retook the rictus of hate and he screamed before running away down the hall.  Cendan sat up and pulled as much magic as he could into the wards.  He didn’t have a clue what to do about any of this, but at least he’d survived the initial attack.  He hoped that fact would give Marcus pause and delay the next attempt, hopefully giving Heather and Jasmine the time they would need to get help.

________

Jasmine dried her hair as she stood in Cendan’s living room, showered and full.  Now, if she could only forget what Marcus had done to her.  How had her oldest friend gone so crazy?  Those thoughts, dreams...  Jasmine shuddered at her memories.  He’d never physically touched her, for that she was grateful, but things he had sent into her mind were worse than anything he could have done physically.  All to get to Cendan, or get revenge on Cendan.  Why did he want Cendan back so badly?

And now, here she was.  Out.  Away, and with Heather, the witch.  Heather stood looking out the window, her hand turning that twisted wooden circle that she used.  She turned to Jasmine, flashing her a fake smile.

“Jasmine, I… need to apologize.  For the store, I mean.  Before.”

Jasmine simply nodded.  That was nice at least.

“So what has happened since I was put under by Marcus?” Jasmine asked, keeping an eye on Heather.  “I mean, it’s obvious things have.  And then we need to think about how we can help Cendan.  Marcus is a crazy man.  I won’t leave Cendan there powerless.”

Heather gave a real smile at that.  “Oh, Cendan isn’t powerless.  In fact, Marcus is going to find it far harder to do anything to him than he expects.  As for what’s been going on, let me fill you in.”

Jasmine listened in silence as Heather gave her a synopsis of everything that had happened with the Shrouded, only interrupting to make sure she had everything straight.  So, Cendan had been getting a crash course in magical training, had nearly been betrayed by this Gardener person, and had to run from these Shrouded people.  Shrouded.  She had a hard time believing there was a whole secret group of people that the Bridgefinders didn’t know about that could use magic.

Oh they’d known there were individuals here and there, but a whole magical secret society?  Her doubt was met, however, with the apparent truthfulness of this by the mere fact of Heather’s existence.  Heather was far more than some crazy witch making deals with creatures of the Slyph.  She had abilities that Jasmine didn’t understand.  And with great reluctance, she knew they were magic.  Just as she knew whatever Marcus had done; that had been magic as well.

An edge of concern crept into her thoughts however, Heather and Cendan had spent the night here at Cendan’s house? Why did she care about that? Cendan was a grown man, he could do what he wanted. He had saved her and she wanted him to be happy, but with this woman? This… witch? She had no claim on him, that was in the past, but still. Jasmine mentally shook herself, this wasn’t the time to worry about this.

Her childhood training notwithstanding, it was obvious that magic was real, and that she and the other Bridgefinders could and were using magic.  It was a strange thought, and one that deep down gave her a small thrill.

“So, Cendan…  How do we get him out?” Jasmine asked point blank.  “We will need him if there ever is an attack by Grellnot.”

“We may, and just may be able to get in with outside help, but I’m not sure.”  Heather paused and held up her hand.  “Do you feel that?”  Screams erupted from outside as Heather and Jasmine ran outside.  Bridges.  Bridges everywhere.  Creatures, the like that neither had ever seen, came rushing out mixed with things they had fought many a time.

“We need help!” Jasmine yelled as years of training took over.  She was tired, and not really ready for this, but she was a Bridgefinder.  This was her job!  Heather stood and nodded.  Her eyes closed and then opened.

“The Shrouded are coming to help!”  Jasmine and Heather ran down to the nearest Bridge, and closed it, banishing creatures left and right.

“Too many!” Jasmine yelled.  Heather nodded.  This was madness.  A man appeared nearby, with four others, all gasping.  Heather recognized them all.

“Whoop!  Help has arrived!” Heather yelled as she sent a goblin howling back through the nearest Bridge.  Her elation was short lived, however.  An attack of this scale could only mean one thing.  Grellnot had won.

Across the city, The Shrouded responded.  Fighting off creatures and sealing Bridges.  They weren’t Bridgefinders, and it took more of them to do it.  They still, however, weren’t willing to let Grellnot win.  Many a small prayer of thanks was said to the EVA machine of the Bridgefinders’, in contrast to their normal curses.  The day would have been unwinnable if the bridges hadn’t been contained.

As it was, they held their own for now.  Though losses happened.  A person here, a face there, broken by a lumbering giant.  A young witch speared by a gremlin’s poison tipped dart.  But they held.  But where was Grellnot?  Where was the leader of this madness at?

________

A sound that shook his bones went off in the lair, forcing Cendan to steady himself.  He had nearly knocked the plate onto the floor.  That sound?  What had that been?  He took one last bite of his food, and raced toward EVA, the only place he knew of that could make something like that.  It was an alarm, something was happening, something bad!

“EVA?” he reached out in his mind, pulling every ounce of spare strength into the message, trying to break through the fog that covered the link between him and the clockwork intelligence.  Fear.  Fear blossomed across the link.  Fear and hate.  Cendan immediately thought of Marcus; what was he doing?  Bursting into the main room for EVA, however, everything looked the same as before.  Still a mess, but nothing else.  No damage; no new changes at all.

The sound went off again, nearly deafening him.

“EVA?”  He tried to break through one last time.  A glimpse of a face was all he got, but that glimpse was enough.  Grellnot.  Cendan’s stomach fell, as fear rose.  He worked to calm himself.  There was only one answer for this, one reason.  Grellnot had won.  The Slyph, the threat that had motivated generations of Bridgefinders, was defeated.  Knowing Grellnot, probably dead.

Grellnot now had the power of the Echo World, all the power.  If EVA was sensing it, however, the chances were that Grellnot was attacking, and here he was, stuck in the Bridgefinders headquarters.  Stuck with Marcus.  He slammed his hand against the nearest wall.  He shouldn’t be in here.  He should be out helping Jasmine, Heather, whoever else.  He hoped the Shrouded would help, even in the face of the factions that wanted to end the Bridgefinders.  Grellnot was a greater threat.

“Marcus!  I know you can hear me.  We have to get out, Grellnot has won.  The Slyph is defeated!  You know what Grellnot is capable of, you know its ways.  We need to help!” Cendan yelled out, hoping Marcus was paying attention.  “Marcus, this is crazy!” he called out again, but only got silence in return.  Anger gave Cendan extra energy, and he ran towards the exit, determined to break out.

He threw everything he could at the transition point.  Patterns that he didn’t even know what they did, all to no avail.  Unless Marcus let him out, he wasn’t leaving.  Which meant Jasmine, Heather, and anyone else were going to have to do this without him.  Even worse, the everyday people, the ‘normal’ people, were going to die, get hurt, get scared and terrorized.

Cendan slumped down in the hallway.  What did Marcus want?  Why him?  He’d attacked, but still never said what it was he wanted.  What could he do?  For once, Cendan had no answers.  He was at a dead end branch and stuck.

________

Marcus raged in a forgotten back corner of the Garden.  He’d had the traitor Cendan all to himself.  No one to help him, no tricks, and yet he still couldn’t destroy him!  Somehow the fool had managed to withstand the Keystone.  No one should be able to withstand the Keystone!  Screaming and reaching out with his new power, He destroyed a swathe of vegetation, burning it down to the roots.

How?  How had the traitor beaten him?  He stopped and whirled around.  He’d had help.  He must have had help.  That’s it.  That’s the only way.  Marcus was unstoppable here, but if Cendan Key had made a deal with the Slyph, given himself to her, her power might be enough to delay Marcus.  That was it, Cendan was even more of a traitor.  Now not just a betrayer of the Bridgefinders, but of the whole human race.  The whole world!

Hate burned in Marcus.  So if Cendan was working with the Slyph, then Marcus needed help too.  Who could help him?  Jasmine?  No, she refused to see the truth.  Ran from it.  Stupid woman.  Why didn’t she see how much she meant to him?  How important she was?  Together they could have raised a new generation of Bridgefinders, challenged the Echo World itself!  Instead, she’d chosen to turn her back on him.

He would get her back.  Her escape had only been temporary.  Her and that witch; what had they called her ... Heather?  They would come back for Cendan.  He knew it.  Once they did, they’d fall back under his control.  This time it would be different.  This time Jasmine would love him.  Heather would too.  She was a witch, but still, they needed more Bridgefinders.  They would both love him.

Marcus giggled as he stood; they would both be his.  But first, Cendan Key.  He needed that focus, he had to have it.  Cendan must know about the lock, about the breaking of the bindings.  That’s why he kept it away from Marcus all those times, before Marcus knew the truth.  Cendan had been in league with the Slyph even then, he was sure of it!

He needed an ally.  Who could help him?  Who hated the Slyph just as much as he did?  Hated Cendan?  The name came to him.  It was obvious.  Cendan reached out and lowered the barrier that kept the creatures of the Echo world out.  There was only one ally, only one that he could use to rid himself of Cendan Key, forever.