Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3) (7 page)

“I’ll think about it,” she said.

“Think quickly. We
leave tonight.”

Valerie packed a call box of
supplies for her trip and told Oberon where she was going.

“I will cancel my work and come
with you,” he said.

“I won’t be in danger,” Valerie insisted.
She sensed that having her powerful father, with his past ties to the Fractus,
glowering by her side would not help her win over the People of the Woods.
“Gideon is coming with me, and Elden is a friend.”

The tension in her father’s face
eased slightly at her words. “Elden can be trusted.”

Valerie tried to hide her
relief. “I’ll be back in two days at the most.”

She didn’t mention that Kanti
and Cyrus were coming with her as well as Gideon, not wanting to hurt Oberon.
Henry was in a period of intense study at the Empathy Collective and had
decided to stay in Silva, so Oberon would have company at home.

Her father escorted her to the
door and hugged her at the threshold. Every time he did that, it was a little
less awkward, and Valerie shut her eyes to appreciate it.

When he released her, she saw
Oberon’s gaze flick up and register Gideon waiting at the edge of their garden
with Chrome, a gray wolf with the power to track magic trails, at his side.

“I’ll invite them in and be
right back,” Valerie said, but was surprised when Oberon shook his head.

“There is history between Gideon
and me that has left bad blood,” he said.

“What happened?” she asked,
unable to curb her curiosity, despite the closed expression on her father’s
face.

“A story for another time,”
Oberon said in a tone that meant the subject was closed forever. She’d see
about that.

“Bye, Dad,” she said, and walked
to Gideon. When she turned around at the edge of the woods, he was still
watching them, and he waved goodbye.

Gideon’s face was stony, and now
that Valerie knew there was history between him and her father, she couldn’t
resist asking a question.

“How do you know my father?”
Valerie asked him.

“That is a story for him to
share with you,” Gideon said, sounding as stubborn as Oberon.

But Chrome sent an image to her
mind of Gideon, Oberon, and her mother, Adelita. Gideon stood in front of
Adelita with his sword drawn, as if he were protecting her from Oberon.

Valerie knew that Gideon had been
friends with her mother—they had worked together to combat the Fractus. She questioned
now why she hadn’t probed more about their relationship.

Chrome nudged her leg with his
nose, as if to tell her not to reveal what he’d shown, and she gave him a small
nod.

Valerie was thinking about how
to frame a question to Gideon about her mother when her mentor spoke up.

“It may not be my place to say,
but since there is no one else to warn you, I will tell you to be on your guard
around Oberon,” Gideon said gravely.

“Maybe you were right not to
talk about my dad,” Valerie said, her flash of anger surprising her with its
intensity. “He’d never hurt me.”

Gideon shook his head. “He will
protect you and Henry, I am sure. But he may not do it the way you expect. He
would lie, steal, and kill for you, even if it is the wrong thing and you would
not wish him to. When Oberon decides what is best for those he loves, he does
it at any cost.”

Valerie’s fists unclenched as
she considered Gideon’s words more objectively. “You need to tell me what
happened and let me make up my own mind.”

Gideon nodded, staring straight
ahead. “Oberon first met your mother in battle. She had the chance to end his
life, but she chose to let him live, believing that he could be a powerful ally
if we convinced him that the Fractus’s ways were misguided.”

“She was right,” Valerie
couldn’t help saying.

Gideon’s face twisted before he
resumed his usual calm. “How did he repay her? He came to her Guild and
attacked her while she trained alone one morning. I saw them battling, and
together we sent him off. But he wouldn’t leave her alone. He’d show up at her
home, when she walked the streets of Silva. Adelita swore that he wasn’t really
using his full power when he attacked, that he wouldn’t hurt her. He was
fighting within himself and projecting his doubts onto her.”

Chrome flashed an image in
Valerie’s mind of Adelita lying on a dusty piece of ground. Oberon loomed over
her, lightning sparking from his clenched fists. But in this memory, Adelita
said something, angry, and he dropped his hands. He leaned forward and helped her
to her feet, and their eyes met. Even through the haze of Chrome’s memory, the intense
connection between her parents was unmistakable.

“I’ll never understand how he
convinced her to trust him,” Gideon said, and Valerie heard pain in his voice.
She examined her mentor closely, wondering for the first time how close Gideon
and her mother had been.

“She saw something good in him.
It’s there, I swear to you. I’ve seen it,” Valerie said.

“That isn’t all,” Gideon said,
and his eyes blazed again. “A year after they were together, the Fractus
ordered Oberon to create a great storm over the woods. They didn’t say why, but
he must have known it was to hurt someone. Even though he had forsworn his
alliance to the Fractus for Adelita, when they threatened her life, he gave in
and did what they asked.”

Valerie couldn’t hide her
confusion. “Storms happen all the time. What’s the big deal?”

Gideon finally turned to her.
“Ask your friend Dulcea how dangerous a storm created by as powerful a Conjuror
as Oberon can be. Her parents died that day, killed by his magic as surely as
if it had been by his own hand. Do you think your mother thanked him for his
protection at the expense of innocent lives?”

Valerie’s mind was moving
through sludge, unable to process Gideon’s words. “How could she have ever
forgiven him?”

Gideon turned away without
speaking, but Chrome sent her a final image of Oberon on his knees, blind and
full of repentance. She didn’t hear the words that were pouring out of him, but
his eyes reflected the depth of his regret as he pounded the ground with his
fists. Something he said made her mother’s face soften.

In spite of seeing her father’s
remorse, she couldn’t forgive him as her mother had. Instead she felt betrayed,
as if Oberon had tricked her into believing in someone who didn’t exist.

The rest of Valerie, Gideon, and
Chrome’s trip to the edge of the woods was quiet. Kanti and Cyrus were waiting
at the Lake of Knowledge with matching smiles, excited about their latest
adventure. But the foundation beneath Valerie’s feet had shifted, and she
couldn’t hide it from her friends.

“What is it?” Kanti asked when
she saw her face.

Valerie shook her head. “Later.”

Cyrus kissed her cheek and held
her hand. Then he turned to Gideon. “How is it that you know how to find the
People of the Woods, anyway?”

“When I was a boy, a clan living
in the south woods of Arden adopted me,” Gideon said.

Valerie realized how little she
knew of her mentor, but her usual curiosity was deadened by Gideon’s
revelations about her father. She knew she had to shake the news off, at least
for now, so that she could focus on winning over Elden and his people.

In his usual attempt to lighten
the mood, Cyrus changed the subject. “What do we do? Is there a secret passage
or a ritual? A charm, maybe?”

Gideon relaxed under the
influence of Cyrus’s enthusiasm. “Nothing so grand, I’m afraid. We climb.”

“Climb what?” Cyrus persisted.

“You’ll see,” Gideon said, and a
smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, as if he was enjoying prolonging the
mystery.

“As long we don’t have to take
the rollercoasters,” Kanti muttered.

Gideon led the group deeper into
Arden’s woods than Valerie had ever been on foot. After several hours of hiking,
Gideon stopped in front of the biggest tree she had ever seen in her life. It
reminded her of the redwood forest she had been to on a field trip on Earth.
The trunk was as wide around as a car and stood so high that she couldn’t see
the top of the tree through the branches.

“Now we climb,” Gideon said.
“Chrome will keep guard on the ground and alert us if anyone has followed.”

Gideon reached up to a branch
above his head and quickly hauled himself up.

“Not to be a wimp, but isn’t
this a bit dangerous?” Kanti said, squinting up at the branches towering above
them.

Gideon leaned down and held out
a hand to her. “The tree is spelled. If you come with peaceful intentions you
will not fall.”

Kanti wiped her hands on her
jeans and then reached up. Soon they were all climbing, following Gideon’s path
up the tree branch by branch. Leaves brushed Valerie’s cheek, and she shrank
away. The touch was unnatural, like cool fingers against her face. Above her,
Cyrus cringed as well, and she saw the leaves curl away after they brushed
against him. It was like the tree could tell by touch whether they were allowed
to climb safely.

Valerie noticed a pleasant ache
in her limbs from the unusual exercise when Gideon disappeared into a cluster of
leaves. Kanti stopped short.

“Where’d our faithful guide go?”
she asked.

Valerie quickly climbed up,
moving around Cyrus and Kanti. “I’ll go first, to make sure it’s safe.”

Kanti let out a relieved breath,
but Cyrus shook his head. “Let me go. I’m an ambassador for my Guild. People
love me.”

Valerie didn’t want to argue, so
instead, she pushed her way through the thicket of leaves without another word.
When she emerged, she was standing on one of the wooden platforms that formed
the floor of a great city in the trees.

All of the branches
interconnected, forming streets and bridges. Flowers grew in little nooks, and
everything was alive and blooming. It even seemed easier to breathe up here.

All around her, the People of
the Woods bustled, going about their daily activities. In the treetops, Valerie
saw little homes and shops, just like on the ground below.

She poked her head back through
the leaves and reached down to Kanti. “It’s safe.”

Valerie helped Kanti up, but
when she tried to give Cyrus a hand, he pushed her away, annoyed.

“You don’t always have to be the
one to throw yourself into danger,” he muttered. “You can let me protect you
sometimes.”

She moved to squeeze his hand,
but he pulled away. She couldn’t say what he wanted to hear, that she’d let him
take risks in her place. If she lost Cyrus, she’d lose herself, too. And
reminding him that she was a stronger, better fighter was probably not a good
idea, either.

Gideon spoke as the three
friends brushed bits of leaves and twigs from their clothes. “Welcome to Arbor
Aurum. To the People of the Woods, it is the capital of the Globe.”

Kanti and Cyrus stared and
stared, reminding Valerie of her own first glimpse of this green and gold city
in the trees.

“How will we find Elden?”
Valerie asked.

“He will come to us. The People
of the Woods all know we are here now. The tree warned them of our approach,”
Gideon explained.

Valerie saw a tall, dark man
with skin that had a tint of gold, purposefully striding over to them. Though
all of the People of the Woods moved gracefully, Elden stood out, like an
acrobat navigating an invisible tightrope.

Elden’s face was serious, but
his eyes held a welcome that Valerie hadn’t seen the last time she’d met him.
After greeting everyone in the group, he immediately turned to her.

“I can see in your bearing that
you begin to be ready for what is to come,” Elden said.

Valerie forced herself not to
look away from his direct gaze. “The Fractus are on the verge of sending an
army to Earth. We can’t let that happen, and we hoped you could help us.”

“Come, this is no place to talk
of such matters. The others wait for us in the Sky Garden,” Elden said.

He led the group to a nearby
tree with knobs in the side like shallow steps. He quickly ascended, and
Valerie followed as nimbly as she could. When she reached the top, the first
thing she noticed was the sky. They were at the very top of the trees, and no
branches or leaves blocked their view of the endless blue.

All around her in winding paths
were gold, pink, white, and blue flowers. They grew wild, but somehow the
People of the Woods had interwoven the colors and patterns to form a work of
art. It was like stepping inside a painting. Beside her, Cyrus and Kanti stared,
mouths slightly open. Gideon shut his eyes and tilted his face to the sky,
taking a deep breath.

Valerie wished she could stare
and explore, but she’d come here with a purpose, so she forced herself to focus
on Elden.

He had led them to a bump in the
giant platform of woven tree branches that formed a natural table, and around
it sat five other People of the Woods. They were all dark-skinned, like Elden,
but their skin and hair glinted with different shades of gold, green, and
silver. Valerie recognized Cerise, Ceru’s aunt whom she had met several months
before. She remembered that she hadn’t been friendly, even though Valerie had
helped locate Darling so he could heal her son, Emin, after a bad injury.

Seated at one end of the table,
with flowers wound through her hair, was Cara, Cyrus’s sister. Cyrus moved to
give her a hug, but Cara shook her head slightly, and he stepped back, puzzled.

“Azra sent word that you were
coming,” Elden explained. “She has told us the latest actions by the Fractus.
We will decide as a people what support we will give your quest, but those
gathered today are here to listen and spread your words.”

Valerie couldn’t have hoped for
more. She turned to Gideon to see if he would start, but his head was bowed,
and she knew he expected her to begin to weave the story that would rally
people to them.

She gulped and hoped that the
People of the Woods didn’t notice. But she gathered her thoughts, remembering
the appeal that she had planned the night before as she lay in bed. She’d
tailored it to what she knew of these people and hoped it would resonate.

“People of the Woods, I know
that your lives and values are different from many of the Conjurors on the
Globe, and so you live apart,” Valerie began.

“To escape the taint of
corruption that is rife on the ground,” Cerise said, tossing her long hair over
her shoulder.

Valerie nodded. “We don’t come
to debate our differences today. We come because we not only share an enemy in
the Fractus, but we also share a hope for a future where magic is used to enhance
the lives of the people and animals on the Earth and the Globe.”

“Don’t forget all of the
non-cognizant life, the plants,” Cerise interrupted again, but her tone was
less hostile.

“You’re right. On both the Earth
and the Globe, the need to protect the creatures that cannot protect themselves
is critical. The Fractus seek to use magic to force their way of life upon us
all, human and Conjuror,” Valerie said.

“We’ve seen the truth of that
for ourselves,” Elden said, moving to stand beside Valerie. “They have attacked
our fortresses and stolen our people to harvest our magic against our will.”

“We have to find a better, fairer
way to bring magic back to Earth, if that is what we all decide to do. But
before that can happen, we must drive the Fractus from Earth and stop their
poison from spreading across the universe,” Valerie said.

“She’s right,” the oldest of the
representatives spoke up. “We have battled the Fractus since the Globe was
formed. We can never even consider returning to Earth as long as that threat remains.
The Fractus come for us, daring to try to kidnap even our children. Several of
our People would still be locked in the Black Castle if Valerie had not set
them free.”

The others nodded, even Cerise.
Valerie glanced at Kanti and Cyrus, who beamed at her.

For the first time, Cara spoke
up. “It’s like Ceru and I have been trying to show you—not all of the Conjurors
are bad. It’s time to set aside prejudice and join forces.”

Cyrus’s eyes were round as he
stared at his sister. Cara was obviously a respected voice in the group.

“We will take your message to
the People, and I will come to tell you of our decision,” Elden said.

The representatives, other than
Cara, began to trickle away. Valerie’s anxiety returned.

“Can you tell us where to find
the Globe’s Byway?” she asked Elden. “Even a day could make a difference in
stopping the Fractus from returning to Earth in force.”

Elden cocked his head,
considering her words. “I will tell you under one condition. If you find the
Globe’s Byway, you will bring it to me and my people. We will decide whether it
should be destroyed ourselves. We created the Byway, so it is our right to
decide what happens to it.”

It made Valerie nervous to leave
such a big decision in the hands of people she barely knew.

“To earn trust, you must first
give it,” Gideon said softly in her ear.

Slowly, Valerie nodded. “You
have my word. We’ll bring it to you.”

“It is in the vanished garden of
Babylon, behind a great waterfall,” Elden said. “No one, not even any of my
people, has been able to visit this site, the most beautiful of the gardens we
created for this planet, in many years. We hope that means no Fractus have been
able to find it, either.”

The mention of Babylon tickled a
memory in the back of Valerie’s mind from her first trip to the Globe.

“That’s the place you found with
Dulcea and me two years ago!” Cyrus said, his eyes glowing.

“You’ve been to Babylon and you
didn’t tell me?” Cara squeaked.

Elden silenced them both with a
regal wave of his hand. “Am I to understand that you have already found the
garden once?”

“Yes,” Valerie said. “And we’ll
find it again and bring the Byway to you to protect.”

Elden gripped her hand and
squeezed once. “I will trust you to keep your word, vivicus. And when you do, I
believe you will have the support and magic of my people at your side if you
need it.”