The Secret of Ashona (12 page)

That is when Erec realized why no more cloudy thoughts were telling him what to do. He had already accomplished his task. He wasn’t supposed to live through this.

As Ward and the others snuck into the hut, Erec tore and slashed at the Harpies, hoping against hope that he might save himself. One of the creatures faltered as he ripped off most of its wing, and it spun toward the ground. But two of them evaded his attacks, staying over the top of him and jabbing down at him in turns. His head ached, and his side was on fire.

Erec’s energy was gone. The bird women were forcing him down into one of the holes. He tried to escape between them, but another hard jab from one and a shove from another pushed him deeper in.
Erec desperately fought, thinking what he could try next. Several hard claws gripped his aching head. A Harpy shook him, batting his weak body against the stone walls of the pit.

Erec watched the green color drain from his skin. His vision returned to normal, and the scales on his skin disappeared. So this was it, then. His cloudy thought was over. He would drop to his death. Just as his wings disappeared, he grabbed one of the Harpy’s claws, hanging on for dear life.

Why did it have to end this way? Erec did not see the purpose. He was glad that the others were safe, but couldn’t his cloudy thought have lasted longer to protect himself, too?

Maybe his mother and Bethany were right. Here he was hanging over a deadly Diamond Mind, wishing that he was anywhere else. How stupid had he been to come here? Was it really too late to save his own life? There had to be a way. . . .

The Harpy flew lower and smashed her claw against the wall of the pit. Erec’s knuckles hit stone again and again until, exhausted and in pain, he fell thirty feet, banging against the hard rock on the way down.

When he awoke, everything was dark. A few stars glowed through the top of the pit. Underneath him was a squishy pillow that must have caught his fall. It glowed red, bathing the space around him with a dim ruby light. His side still ached, and when he pressed his hand to it he discovered blood still oozing out. Something was dripping down his head as well—a swipe of his finger showed that he was bleeding all over.

Dizzy, he tried to get comfortable on the pillow. It moved under him like a fluid gel.

“Do you
mind
?” The voice seemed to come from the glowing pillow.

Erec looked around. Nobody else was down here. He supposed that the Diamond Mind was talking. “Where are you?”

“Under your rear end.” The thing sounded disgusted. “Such poor planning by the Fates. This happens every time I get a visitor.”

“I’m sorry.” Erec scooted off of the squishy thing. “Is that better?”

“Quite. Now, let me see here, before I bother to use my supreme intellect to answer all of your questions, read your past, and successfully predict your future, let me have at least a modicum of fun by playing a guessing game. Hmm. I suppose you are here because you want your future told. Your life has been dull and meaningless, but you are pathetically sure that your future holds something extraordinary. You are but a tiny peon who has brought nothing original or interesting into this world, and you will continue to drain it of valuable resources until you are finally disposed of.” The cushionlike creature yawned, although Erec could not see its mouth. “Your life is undoubtedly so boring that it would have been more interesting for me to be lost in my own thoughts rather than have to deal with your dreary ones.”

After a pause, the thing sounded annoyed. “All right, let’s go on, then. First, before I do the ‘exciting’ future read for you, I get to take from you the most valuable thing that you own. Give me a moment to conduct my search.”

A warm wave of air swept through the space Erec sat in. There was silence for a moment, and then the creature said, “Well, well, then. What do we have here? This
is
a surprise. Finally I have a visitor worth thinking about. One of value. I actually can’t wait to read your past, boy. Just look at the valuables you have in you! Many things of worth. Royal blood. Dragon eyes. Convertible parts. A small piece of a genuine soul. A true friendship that has sparks of a true love in it—so rare. All of those things mean quite a bit to you, I see.”

“Convertible parts? What do you mean?”

“All of your parts have become something new—they can convert to a dragon state, it seems.”

Erec nodded. He understood the rest of what the Diamond Mind said, including the true friendship. It hurt the most that he wouldn’t see Bethany again.

“Very interesting. It is too bad for me, though, that the thing that is most valuable to you, out of all of these possessions, is your best friend. You do know, don’t you, that she is your true love? If only she was here right now I would take her, no question. Shame that I’m missing that opportunity.”

Erec breathed a sigh of relief. The creature was right. He would sacrifice any of the rest of it—his life included—to save Bethany. Thank goodness that this thing wasn’t able to get at her. Thinking about how she was safe now made him feel better. “What do you want from me, then? My dragon eyes are pretty cool.” Even though his quest had said that he would not live—that he would be trading his life—he still had hope that there might be a way out. If this thing took his eyes instead of his life, then he would stand a chance.

“Oh, no, no.” The Diamond Mind brushed this off quickly. “Your eyes are not the most valuable thing you have with you here. I’m going to take your life—which will include that small piece that you have left of your soul. It’s not as good as a whole one, but given that you are special it will be worthwhile for me to keep. Thanks for stopping by. It’s actually been nice to meet you.”

“Wait a minute!” Fear rushed through Erec like a tidal wave. This was happening too soon. “Can’t you take it later? I’m using that little bit of soul—and my life right now. I need to do a few things before I die. I’ll come back and give it to you later. I promise.”

The thing chuckled. “I think we both know that you would not come back later, given the chance. No, your problems are your problems, I’m afraid. I will do your future reading for you first, as a
bargain is a bargain. After that I will collect that soul fragment and your life.” It sighed contentedly. “You can rest assured that you have fallen into the hole of only the most amazingly brilliant and unsurpassed Diamond Mind, so your reading will be highly accurate.”

This thing had no shortage of self-esteem, Erec thought. He wondered if there was any way that he could change its mind and talk it out of killing him. But then Erec thought about his quest. He had to give his life . . . so how could anything he said make a difference? But would the Fates really let him die?

“Let’s see here . . .” More warmth filled the pit, and Erec relaxed against the wall. Reading his future seemed a bit of a joke. This thing was supposedly so smart—it would have to know that all of the futures it read would be simply, “You are going to die in a few minutes. That will be the end of you.” His forecast would be no different.

“A-
maz
-ing!” the rubbery being exclaimed. “This is fun!” More warmth then seeped through the space while it thought more. A deep, satisfied hum echoed around him. “Do you know how much I have longed for this kind of stimulation? It’s like an oasis in the desert. Pollen to the bee. Synachnotonic for chriallotsime sufferers. Oh, what pleasure! What delight!”

Erec chose not to ask what chriallotsime was, but he did know that he was reaching his limits. “This is fun for you? That’s interesting. I’m about to die, and I’m sitting here with a talking mushy cushion that is completely in love with itself. And that doesn’t care at all that it’s going to ruin my life and a lot of other people’s lives. Maybe you’re thrilled, but I’m miserable. Understand?”

“Oh, but you shouldn’t be miserable! This is a veritable font of delight for me, you see.”

Erec shut his eyes. “Wonderful. I’m glad you’re so happy about it.”

The thing continued, excited. “I’m so used to the same old boring people coming here to learn their futures. They are born, fall in love,
work, have children, live, and then die. What a waste of my precious time. You, on the other hand . . . well, you’ve already lived and died, and then come back to life again. You have saved lives and caused death for others. You have combined your life with a dragon who loves you. You have gone back in time. All of this actually makes it a
challenge
for me to predict your future!” It sighed with satisfaction.

It occurred to Erec that this creature was looking at his entire life just as a mental exercise. “So, what’s the big challenge? I think we both know my future completely: I’m going to die in a few minutes, here, because of you. Congratulations.” He closed his eyes, a wave of pain passing through him. As much as he tried not thinking about Bethany, his mother, and the siblings he was leaving behind, thoughts of them began to take hold. Pictures of them crying for him, miserable, began to fill his head. What would their lives be like from now on? They would think that Erec deserted them, that he snuck away willingly to die, stupidly, instead of letting them keep him safe like he should have done.

The Diamond Mind sounded gleeful. “Not so simple, though! As we both know, you are on a journey to meet the three Furies—something I am quite jealous about, if you must know. So, you are going to do it without the benefit of a living body, but what does that matter? Such a thing would only get in the way when you are there with them. And it is possible that the Furies might give you back your soul—or, then again, maybe not. I assume that they will give you the Master Shem so that you can free Trevor, your brother. Or maybe they will cause something else to happen that will save him. But the Fates have made it sound like Trevor will be okay.

“Beyond this, with your personal life, it is impossible to say whether you will carry on with a completely boring love life with your childhood sweetheart, Bethany. This is because it is unclear whether or not you will ever return to life again. It seems doubtful, of course,
from the clues I have interpreted. I do believe that you will never live again. But there is evidence both ways, and I cannot be sure. . . .”

Erec crossed his arms and put his shoes against the mushy pillowlike thing. It shivered and pushed against him, and he took his feet off of it again. “So . . . you’re saying that you can’t predict my future, then?”

“Absolutely not, boy. Not completely, anyway. I have successfully predicted your future to some degree, better than anybody else could anywhere, I assure you.”

“It doesn’t sound like it.” Erec thought a moment. “I didn’t hear what would happen next. It was just a lot of guesswork. All that you said was that you know nothing. You can’t tell if I will live again or not. You don’t know whether I’ll get my soul back, or if I will have a future with Bethany. You know nothing.”

“Of course I know nothing.” The thing sounded angry. “How can I? With any normal person I can make predictions based on human behavior, which is simple to understand. I can tell people whether their marriages will last or not, given both spouses’ attitudes. I can tell when someone will die—for the most part—even if I am not the cause of their death, based on risk factors and their lifestyle. I can tell if they will stay in their jobs or take a new one, based on what goes on in their minds and what is around them in society. But now I am faced with predicting the unpredictable: supernatural decisions of the Furies and their sisters the Fates. Nobody, even with supreme, perfect intelligence, can know how those beings will choose to act. They hold limitless knowledge that is unknowable to me. It is a very different situation.”

“Okay, then,” Erec said. “You cannot predict what would happen like you normally would. So you should not be able to take your price for making the prediction. You can’t have the last bit of my soul. No deal.”

There was a hush, and then an irritated snarling sound. “Don’t try to play games with me, boy. I exacted that toll from you in order to do your prediction, not with any certainty about the outcome.”

“But you didn’t tell my future, did you?”

The voice sounded uncomfortable. “Of course I did. Well, as much as possible.” There was a soft humming noise, and then a sigh. “I’ll tell you what. Normally I would never offer this . . . but then again, normally there is nothing interesting to find out from anybody. I’m going to take the last bit of your soul. You won’t need it anyway. But if for some reason the Furies give you your original soul back, and if they bring you back to life, then you may come back here to me. I will return this piece of your soul to you in exchange for finding out from you what happened. If the Furies don’t give your soul back, you will have no need for this, anyway. I know that you do not want to live on if you are going to turn into an evil being.”

As bad as it sounded, the Diamond Mind’s offer seemed the best Erec could do. At least there was a chance he might someday be whole again. And the thing was right—Erec did not want to turn into something awful. “How do I know that you won’t take my whole soul away from me if I come back here?”

The thing sounded indignant. “I never go back on my word. Of course I will do as I say. I will even keep your body intact for you here, at least for a while. Now, here we go. . . .”

Before he could say another word, Erec felt himself crumble and hit the floor in a heap. Something inside tugged hard against his chest. It felt like his heart was trying to leave his body. Every limb was numb, heavy. He could feel his pulse slow, its beats softening. The pulling inside of him worsened like it would rip his chest in two.

Then, with a
pop
, it all felt better. No more pain was left, only a lightness, an airy feeling. It felt like a breeze was blowing through his body . . . or maybe
he
was the breeze. It was a sensation Erec had
never felt before, could never have imagined. He lifted up and looked around, and he was still in the same place . . . but another person was there with him now, lying on the floor below him near the Diamond Mind. It was a boy with straight dark hair that was curly in the back, cold blue eyes staring up at the ceiling. Peering closer was like looking in a distorted mirror—the boy looked oddly just like he did, but somehow paler, almost glossy. . . . Erec did a double take. This was strange. Nobody except him was down here before. . . .