Aster Wood and the Lost Maps of Almara (Book 1) (24 page)

The stone grew hotter with each step I took. Twenty paces away was another large crack in the rock. As I approached, I took care not to make a sound, though I was so anxious I felt certain my heartbeat must be audible. I had been in the dark for quite long enough, and was becoming increasingly eager to find my way back out again.

I had been hoping to find a path towards light, thinking that maybe on the other side of that crack I would find the comfort I was seeking in this black and lonely place. Maybe I would even see a hint of the world beyond this mountain.
 

As I reached the crevice and put my fingers around the corner, the stone burst with a surge of heat so great that I yelped and threw it to the ground. There it blazed, brighter and brighter, until the light coming off the thin blade was like a miniature sun. I shielded my eyes from the glare, and then looked up at the cavern I was standing in.
 

Five hundred feet across and ten stories high, an enormous dome of black granite rock was suspended above me. The light from the stone illuminated the entire space, obliterating all shadow. I marveled at the size of this hole in the mountain, but no other hints about why I was led here were forthcoming. No markings decorated the walls, no artifacts were anywhere to be found. The cavern was completely empty but for myself and the stone.

Then I heard it. I had been so transfixed by the behavior of the jade that the sound had not registered in my brain immediately. But now it did. Somewhere nearby somebody was singing. It was a gentle, soft tune, and the singer sounded like a child. I peered all around the dome, but found nothing that could be making the noise. Then I saw another, dimmer light coming from the crevice. As I approached the crack, the soft blue glow seemed to bounce to the rhythm of the song. I turned the corner and left the brightness of the dome behind. There, at the end of the passage, was a girl.

She lay on a bed, tucked deep underneath the covers. This cavern was smaller, the size of a child’s bedroom. From under the covers her white-blond hair poured over her shoulders, and her arms were above her head as she hummed the melody. Just above her hands bobbed a dim orb of light, and she passed it back and forth from hand to hand as she hummed. She seemed to control the orb with the tone of her voice, and the light danced around above her head with each note she sang.
 

Across the plains of Borna

Horses run wild and free

And if you see my darling

Please bring her back to me

“Hello?” I asked softly. She did not respond.

For on the plains of Borna

My darling went to see

If magic comes to those who run
 

Pure-hearted to the sea

Now on the plains of Borna

My darling hides her song

Please find my darling before

She is away too long

“Hello?” I tried again. This time she heard me, and both her song and the light ceased immediately. I stood in darkness with only the glow from the jade that peeked in from the other cavern.
 

“Hello,” I said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. I’m not here to hurt you or anything. I…I’m looking for something here.”

“What are you looking for?” she hissed from the shadows, her voice more menacing than I expected.

“Well, that’s sort of hard to explain,” I began. “I’m looking for a map…or maybe something sort of like a map…” How could I describe a map of Almara’s, when I didn’t even know what the next one looked like myself? “And a stone. It’s a large, jade stone.” I felt like a fool.
 

“A stone?” she asked.

“Yes, well, it’s complicated,” I answered. “Would you mind…I mean would it be possible…it would be easier for me to explain it to you if I could see you.”

She was silent for a moment, and then the blue orb glowed to life once more, illuminating the cave around us. I took a step in her direction, “You see, I was—”

“DON’T!” she commanded. “Don’t come any closer!”

I froze. “Ok, ok!” I said. “Why not?”

“You are not the first to seek the stone,” she said wryly. “But its power is not drawn into being the way you all think. Who are you, and why do you seek this prize?”
 

“I’m Aster,” I said. “I’m not looking for power. I’m looking for the stone so that I can destroy it.” I left out the fact that I seriously doubted I would be able to do the job myself.
 

The sound of her laughter laced with sarcasm suddenly filled the chamber. It irritated me, being laughed by this little girl after all I had been through to get here.
 

“What’s so funny?” I snapped at her. But my irritation seemed to make her laugh even harder.

She slowly started to compose herself as she spoke again. “What’s funny,” she said through a giggle, “is that you think you’re looking for a
stone
. An actual stone. The others were dull, to be sure, but they at least understood
what
it was they sought.” And then she lost her grip again and was howling with laughter.

I didn’t know what to say. I
was
looking for a stone. And who were these “others” she was talking about? Had travelers come before me seeking the stone? Were they also trying to find Almara?

But this girl not only thought that my plan was wrong, but that it was so pathetic as to be hysterical. I lost my temper and bellowed, “WHAT IS SO FUNNY?”

Her eyes widened in the dim light with surprise at my yell, but she continued to laugh. Then a deep cough echoed through her chest and she dissolved into a fit of hacking. She rolled over onto her side in the bed and coughed, a sad, empty sound. It went on for several minutes, and I began to worry that she would choke from the violence of it. When the coughing finally quieted and she caught her breath, all traces of her smile were gone.

“Boy,” she whispered hoarsely. “You are not looking for a stone. Those who have sent you here after a simple rock have either misled you or been misled themselves. What you have failed to learn before now, along all of your traveling, is that you are looking, in fact, for
me
.” Then she lay back on her bed, her eyes trained on the low ceiling of the cave. “But you can’t have me to either use or destroy,” she continued quietly. “There is no way out of this place.”

“Looking for you?” I said. “I don’t understand.”
 

“I hold the power. The story of the stone serves only to hide me.”

I took another step.

 
“STOP!” she bellowed, coughing hollowly once again. “Stop. If you come any closer, you will be trapped in here with me. And, forgive me, but I don’t think I could handle another two hundred years here with someone as simple as you.”

“I am NOT simple!” I protested immediately. Two hundred years? “You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through or where I’ve come from to get here. Now why—”

“If you take one more step in this direction,” she said angrily, glaring at me now, “then you will be trapped in here, a prisoner like me, forever. Is that what you want?”

“But what do you mean?” I asked, stopping. “There are no bars holding you in. There’s nothing keeping you here. If you want to go, then
go
.”

“You understand
nothing!”
she bellowed
.
“Do you think I would stay here if there were a way, any way, to break free? You are a fool.”

“I am NOT—” I began.

“Try it then,” she said menacingly. “If you are so wise, go ahead. Try to throw me something from where you stand.”

“Throw you something?” I asked, confused. I had been about to launch a tirade of my own.

“
So I can show you
,” she said, her voice grating with irritation.

I glared at her for a moment, and then relented. I removed the pack from my back and dug out an apple, my last. Standing, I threw it directly at her head. But as it flew through the air it made a ripping sound halfway between the two of us. It seemed to pause a little bit midair, as if it was tearing through a thin sheet of paper. Then it broke through to the other side; she caught it in one hand and held it up for me to see.
 

“Ok,” she said. “Now watch.” She tossed the apple back towards me. I lifted my hands, ready to catch it, but it did not meet my grasp. Instead, it bounced off an invisible barrier, and landed on the floor next to her bed. There was a wall between us, though I could see nothing.

“You see,” she said, finally, “if you come through the wall, you will never, ever be able to get out again. There is no escape.” She pulled her covers up to her chin and rolled over, facing away from me.
 

 
“Is there…” I began, then I paused, unsure of what to say. “Is there anything to be done? Is there
any
way out?” It was a stupid question, I knew, but I could think of no other.

“No,” her back spoke. “There is no way out.”

No way out.
 

I backed up against the wall and slid down to the floor. I tried to make it all fit together right in my head. I could not destroy the Stone of Borna because, according to her, there was no Stone of Borna, only this slight little girl. I wouldn’t hurt her, even if I could reach her. But could I leave her here? Should I continue on to search for the next link?

What I knew for certain was that Almara had led me
here
to find the next link. Owyn had wanted me to destroy the Stone, but it was Almara I needed to follow. Whether he had meant for me to find this girl, I didn’t know, but here, somewhere, would be an answer to where that link was hidden.

I looked up at her again and, realizing she really couldn’t get to me, decided to tell her why I was really here.

“It’s not just the Stone I’m looking for,” I said. “I’m looking for a link to lead me to Almara.”

“You are looking,” she said, rolling over in her tiny bed, “for Almara?” She studied me closely, her eyebrows furrowed together.

I scrambled over to the edge of the invisible wall so that she could see me.

“Yes, I have been looking for him all this time. I’ve been following his links for the past few weeks and the last one led me to here. To you.”

Her eyes grew wide with disbelief.
 

“But you are not Brendan,” she said, shaking her head slightly.

“No, I am Aster. Aster Wood,” I said.

“But where is Brendan?” she asked.

Did she not know?
 

“Brendan is dead,” I said. “He died on Earth, my planet, ages ago.”
 
At this her eyes grew even wider, and then slowly filled with tears.
 

“He is dead,” she said quietly.
 

“Yes,” I said. “So I am trying to get to Almara instead. I am Brendan’s descendant, his great great grandson.”

She ignored me.
 

“He is dead,” she said again, and rolled over to face the wall again. The light moved across the room to her and hovered over her head.
 

After several long moments I broke the silence.
 

“Do you know where I can find the link?” I asked.
 

“Of course I knew he must be dead,” she said quietly. “No other explanation exists for why he would not come for me.”

“You knew Brendan?” I asked.

She did not respond to this question, but to the other one.

“Yes,” she said. “I know where the link hides. But it is not a secret I can tell. I must be with you to find it.”

“But why?” I asked. “Why do you need to be with me? I’ve had help to find the other links, but I’m sure if you just tell me where to look I’ll be able to get to it.”

She chuckled softly. “No. The link is entwined with my own wild magic. Without me, you will never, ever find it. Almara made it so.”

“Ok,” I said, scrambling. “Then we’re going to have to get you out of here.”

There had to be a way.
 

“You and I,” I said, “we’ll figure it out.”
 

 
“The lock is too complicated, too difficult for even someone with my talents to force open. A secret word must be entered into it. He does it every time he comes to torture me, but I have never seen the letters he enters. There are many languages, and even if we knew which one we would need the correct word. One must possess the key.”

“A key?” I said. I didn’t have a key. The skeleton key from the dungeons had been lost to the snow lands. But it wasn’t a normal lock she was talking about, it was a code.

“I have a book of codes. Will that work?”

Her head moved slightly as she tilted her face a fraction towards me. “You have a book? Of codes?” she asked.

“Almara’s book,” I said. I dug through the pack and pulled it out.
 

She rolled over again and held herself up on one elbow, looking over at me with interest. I opened the book and showed her the codes inside.
 

“How did you get
that?
” she asked, amazed. A look of longing crossed her face.

“It was one of the links,” I said. “I stole it from Cadoc.”

“You
stole
it from
Cadoc?
” she asked incredulously. “How are you still alive?”

Good question.

“Nevermind that,” I said. “What sort of word should I look for?”

 
“How do you know of Cadoc?” she asked, interrupting me again. Her eyes narrowed now with suspicion.

“I’m trying to tell you,” I said. “I took it from him. He was chasing me in Stonemore, and then I set the prisoners free, and then—”

“Cadoc,” she said, “is my captor.”

I stopped blubbering and stared at her. On her face she wore a grimace of distaste and pain.
 

“Cadoc put you here?” I asked. She nodded. I felt I had known this all along. Who else would do such a thing?
 

“Don’t you understand?” she said. “Even if you could free me, he will know. As soon as this enchantment is broken he will come for us both.”

This statement froze me in place. Cadoc would know? The last thing I wanted to experience ever again in my life was to come face to face with the man in black. But a tiny voice in the back of my head reminded me of what he had said the last time we met: that he had the power to send me back to Earth. Could it be that if I faced Cadoc now, this whole thing might be over and I could go home? Or might I be better off leaving her here and avoiding him altogether? Maybe I could find the link on my own if I searched this land for long enough. Maybe the magic that gave me the power to run in these lands, maybe it would be enough to break the link free. Then I could get to Almara and avoid Cadoc altogether. Once I found Almara, he could come back for the girl. I looked up and found her watching me.