Bridgebreaker (The Echo Worlds Book 2) (18 page)

Grellnot ripped the throat out of a wizard, his claws bloody again.  Grellnot roared with delight as it felt the magic leave the man in front of him. Grellnot feasted on the magic.  It was all Grellnot wanted; it soothed its hunger if only for a moment.  So hungry, so very hungry.  Grellnot’s creatures were dropping here and there, but Grellnot did not care.

Its creatures; their creatures.  All were meat, and all were food to Grellnot.  A long sniff and Grellnot whirled around.  Grellnot wanted that stupid Maker.  It had not forgotten the pain and embarrassment of failing to before.  Not that Grellnot had cared what the Slyph had thought; Grellnot had been denied.  Grellnot didn’t like being denied.

Grellnot couldn’t sense the Maker though.  It could smell that other Bridgefinder, the woman one.  And another woman, who smelled a bit like the Maker, but not exactly.  The others, the Shrouded, Grellnot ignored.  Grellnot had known of the Shrouded for years.  Hiding things; silly humans.  They were easy food for Grellnot.

Grellnot cast a wider net, still searching.  Its hunger grumbled; always the hunger.  A glimmer appeared in its awareness.  Something was calling Grellnot.  Peering with the sight, Grellnot saw an
in-between
place.  A place Grellnot didn’t know.  The call came again.  Wordless, but a call.  Grellnot tried to ignore it, but the call became stronger.

“What do you want from Grellnot!” it screamed, holding its head.

The answer came quickly.  Grellnot stood still and laughed.  This place, this was where that stupid human Maker was hiding!

“You can’t hide from Grellnot!”  Dancing in a shuffling gait, Grellnot celebrated.  Grellnot would end both the Slyph and the Maker the same day!  It vanished, Grellnot’s desire for revenge over riding its desire to kill for the moment.

________

Cendan stood slowly, feeling defeated.  He hated this feeling.  He normally knew what to do.  He prided himself on finding a way, a path forward.  Marcus hadn’t beaten him in the sense of what he had tried to do earlier.  But a stalemate, especially here, wasn’t a winning proposition for Cendan.  He didn’t even know where Marcus was.  That Keystone allowed him to hide anywhere in the place.

Worse yet, Grellnot had won.  He was sure of it.  Grellnot, with all the power it had, was a terrifying prospect.

“Marcus!  We should be out there, defending our world.  Not stuck in here, trapped.  You swore to defend this world from the Echo world, from the creatures and plans of the Slyph!  How is this doing that?” Cendan yelled out once more.

Silence greeted him, and the transition point remained quiet, blocked.  Cendan was frustrated, and angry.  Stalking his way back to the kitchen, he slumped down in a chair, unsure of what else he could do.  He tried to calm himself and banish the emotions that were currently clouding his thoughts.  Be logical he berated himself.

Firstly, he was trapped in the lair with Marcus.  Marcus was over the top, totally insane.  Marcus wanted something from him.  He had no idea what.  Grellnot had most likely won and was attacking the human world.  Cendan couldn’t leave because Marcus had effectively locked the door with that damned Keystone.  Without the Keystone, Marcus wouldn’t be able to stop him.

So he needed to know more about the Keystone.  There had to be a way to stop it, destroy it, nullify it, something!  He needed knowledge.  And there was only one place he might get it, and that was in the Maker wing.  Sitting here feeling sorry for himself wasn’t going to get it done.  Cendan stood and took off at a brisk pace.  There had to be something there; anything would help.

Cendan was halfway to his goal when he heard it, a low throaty laugh; a laugh he’d heard only once before.  A laugh that made him freeze.  Grellnot.  Grellnot was here!  But where?  And how?  How could Grellnot have gotten in?  Where was he?  Cendan reached out with his sight; maybe Grellnot would show up somehow.  His faith was well placed.

Grellnot was in the Garden!  To his sight, Grellnot showed up as an empty hole, a space where magic seemed to flow in and vanish.  Without considering any other options, Cendan sprinted to the Garden, bursting the doors open.

Grellnot stood over the bloodied body of Marcus.

“Stupid Finder.  Bringing Grellnot here.  Grellnot not help you!” it screamed at the still form.  Grellnot raised its head and looked at Cendan.  “Ah, the stupid human Maker.  Grellnot find youuuu!”  Its tongue reached out and licked blood off a long dirty claw.  “Grellnot look for you.  Grellnot search.”  Turning, the creature kicked the body of Marcus.  “This one bring me here; this one think Grellnot help him kill you.”

“Grellnot not need any help.  Grellnot eat him, and Grellnot eat YOU!”  Grellnot turned back to Cendan.  “Do you know stupid human?  Do you know what Grellnot has done?”

Cendan paused, trying to make sense of all this.  Marcus had brought Grellnot here?  To kill Cendan?  That hadn’t worked out for Marcus, apparently.  Grellnot had attacked him the moment he’d gotten in.

“You uh ... defeated the Slyph?” Cendan asked, trying to bide some time while he thought of a plan.

“Defeat?  Grellnot eat the Slyph!” the creature yelled back.  “Eat her magic, her power.  Grellnot has that power now.  Grellnot rules the Echo World now!”

Cendan swallowed.  The greatest fear they had thought of had happened.  Grellnot, the walking thing of hunger, was now more powerful than it had ever been.

“Now, Grellnot, you know you can’t hurt me…” Cendan stated, knowing that wasn’t most likely true anymore.

Grellnot laughed again.  “Stupid Maker.  Grellnot could not hurt you before.  But Grellnot is more now, Grellnot stronger now.”  Cendan looked at Grellnot, and could see just how true that was.  While the magic didn’t seem to flow inside the thing – that was where the near black hole of power was – the outside edge was alight with power.  Threads thick and strong, interwoven with the points of light of the magic of this world.  Magic that was the legacy of its hunts, all those Bridgefinders it had eaten, all that power it had absorbed.

Even by its creation, born of the mix of powers between the Slyph and the unwilling Oakheart. Grellnot was powered by both worlds.  It had to be.  Its existence owed itself to the fact that both worlds’ power was used.  If only there was a way to cut it off from one world, remove one world’s magic…

Cendan paused.  Rivenwood.  His focus!  What had the Shrouded told him?  His focus had been Oakheart’s.  It was bonded to him now, but it had chunks of Oakheart’s knowledge, his essence, embedded in the very metal it was made of.  If Grellnot had been born of Oakheart and the Slyph’s power, then maybe, just maybe…

He peered deeper at the thick corded magic that made up the outside of Grellnot.  He didn’t know what he was looking for, but this was his only chance.  Grellnot was still watching him with an expression of anger, and he didn’t know when the thing would leap.  But out of the corner of his awareness, he saw it.  The soft spot!  That one speck, the one fuzzy little speck of magic.  Could he do it?  Could he unravel the very essence of Grellnot?

Grellnot spat.  “Stupid human not talking.  Maker up to something.  Grellnot not give human that chance!” Cendan fell to one knee as he felt something pull at his soul. So like the first time he’d been attacked by this thing, but stronger, so much stronger. Pain shot through his head and chest, his hands grasping the air, trying to find purchase on something, anything to steady himself.

But if Grellnot was stronger, so was Cendan. Even with his recent fight with Marcus, he had been working on his defenses, working to buffer himself against magic. Grellnot could hurt him and hurt him badly. But he couldn’t kill him, not this way. Slowly Cendan raised his head, teeth gritted to lock eyes with this demented creature. Grellnot spat and bit the air, frustration writ large. Cendan was defying the all-powerful Grellnot!

With a scream, Grellnot leapt, his hunger pushing him. Cendan had only a second to react but managed to grab his arms as Grellnot abandoned the magic attack and fell back to the physical. “Grellnot just kill you the old way.” The thing said, its face inches from Cendan’s. Its breath reeked of rot and mold, and older foul things. If he hadn’t been so busy trying to stay alive Cendan would have retched his stomach out at the smell.

“GRELLNOT WILL WIN!” The scream came from his assailant, as Cendan felt his physical strength starting to weaken. While not exactly a weakling, he wasn’t well versed in hand to hand combat with a short nearly demonic eating machine. He had to do something, and fast. He could feel Grellnot gather its power for another physical assault.

At that moment, Cendan reached out, and with all his strength, pulled the soft spot, yanking it out of the pattern.  Pain.  Pain like no other blew through Cendan.  Heather had tried to warn him how much this hurt, but this was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.  He could feel his mind twisting, stretching.  His mouth opened to scream, but no sound emerged.

“Peace, Cendan Key.”  Sudden peace overcame him…  That voice, was Oakheart’s!  “You have fulfilled my greatest wish; to see the end of my cursed child.  The threat of Grellnot is over.  I am just a wisp of a memory, a message left to see if it could happen.”  The pain left him as he watched Grellnot mid-leap.  The threads of magic flittered off, unraveling.

Grellnot fell off of Cendan, screaming.

“Grellnot is all!  Gellnot is power!” it screamed as it held itself.  “What did the Maker do?”  Grellnot yelled as it watched its power fall away, faster and faster.  The very magic that made it fell into clumps, sloughed off and vanished.  The magic that gave it life, drifting away.

“I unmade you Grellnot.  I ripped the magic of my world out of you,” Cendan said, his body tired, fighting off the exhaustion that threatened to overcome him.  “You are gone.”

Grellnot writhed on the floor, the pain of its unmaking too great to stand.  Cendan watched as the magic left him, his power reducing faster and faster.

“Hunnnggrrryyy…”  A whisper came from Grellnot, and then it was no more.  A pile of greasy rags and the necklace of foci glinting in the light was all that was left.  Cendan wanted to celebrate; he had ended the threat of Grellnot forever!  His focus clattered to the floor, the sound of metal ringing in the empty space.

So tired.  He reached out to grab something to steady himself, but blackness claimed him, and his body collapsed on the floor.

________

Marcus opened one eye. Grellnot’s attack had not been unexpected, though the pain had been worse than Marcus had thought.  Blood still seeped through the places Grellnot’s claws had ripped.  The Keystone had saved him, stopped Grellnot from eating him.  He wasn’t sure how.

Cendan had killed Grellnot; that was surprising.

“Still, even a traitor can do something useful sometimes,” Marcus mumbled.  Standing, he held his wound closed with one hand.  Cendan still lived, he could see.  “Not for long,” Marcus said as he slowly made his way to Cendan’s prone form.  He kicked something on the floor and heard the ring of metal.  The Key!

There the key!  It must have fallen out of Cendan’s grasp during the battle with Grellnot.  Ignoring his pain, Marcus reached down and grabbed the precious thing.  Marcus did not believe for a second that Grellnot had beaten the Slyph.  There was only one way to end this.  One way to make sure they were free forever of the danger of the Echo world.

Marcus would end this.  Marcus would be the hero of the ages.  Jasmine would come to him willingly.  Everyone would know that Marcus, not Cendan, was the savior of the world!  He kicked Cendan’s form as he passed by, getting a small groan in response.  Good.  Marcus wasn’t going to kill Cendan.  He wanted him to know that he had won.

Marcus imagined Cendan’s face, knowing that all his betrayals of the Bridgefinders, betrayals of the world, had gotten him nothing.  Marcus would win.  Marcus had won.  Slowly he moved down the hall, blood dripping behind him.  Grellnot’s claws had worked into him deep, but Marcus had this job.  To break the connection to the Echo world.  Keep the earth safe.

Finally arriving at EVA’s room, Marcus paused, trying to gather his strength.  He drew in as much as he could; he only had a little father to go.  The ladder was there, to the keyhole.  The key would turn it and use EVA to break the bonds.  EVA’s voice came now, weak, but audible.

“
Don’t do this Marcus.  It’s a mistake.
”

Marcus snarled.  “Don’t talk back to me, machine.  I will save us all.”

EVA’s voice continued. 
“Do you know why Oakheart never used it?  The key will destroy me.  I will end.  On top of it, breaking the binding between our world and the Echo world doesn’t get rid of anything.  It just means that instead of Bridges only being formed between our world and the Slyph’s, it means Bridges can be formed from anywhere to here.”

“LIES!” Marcus yelled.  “Oakheart was too weak to do this.  Makers should never be given that much leeway.  I will end this!”

Marcus started up the ladder, his bloodied hands slipping in places, unable to get a grip.

“Don’t do this.  Please I beg you!”
  EVA’s voice came plaintive. 
“We don’t know what could be out there.  The Bridges could lead to things far worse than the Slyph.”

As he climbed to the top, Marcus growled.  “I don’t want to hear any more of your lies!”