Nicholas Raven and the Wizards' Web - Volume 1 (57 page)

Several hours later, Brendan opened his eyes to the glowing embers that remained from last night’s fire. The nearly third quarter Fox Moon climbed in the east behind a veil of thin clouds. The Bear Moon had disappeared in the west while they slept. He closed his eyes again, bundled in his coat and hood and wrapped in a blanket, calculating that it was still a few hours until sunrise and eager for more sleep. But a moment later his eyelids snapped open. He sat up and looked around. William was missing.

He searched near the campsite, whispering his brother’s name several times, but receiving no reply. He could see no silhouette of an individual wandering near or far in the light of the moon and grew fearful. After waiting by the embers for a few more minutes and hoping that William would return, he decided to walk along the edge of the woods, first in one direction, then in the other while softly calling out William’s name. After wandering about five hundred feet to the south while staying parallel to the tree line, Brendan stopped and surveyed the area.

“Will! Where are you?” he called out as loudly as he dared, his fear and frustration mounting. He turned around and headed back north, planning to return to the campsite before walking the same distance in the opposite direction. But he hadn’t gone a hundred feet when he caught sight of a stooped shape searching the area around the campfire and near the horses. He shook his head and sighed. “Will!” The startled figure looked up, observing Brendan fast approaching before fleeing into the woods.

When Brendan reached camp, he stood with arms akimbo as he scanned the trees. “Will, enough of this!” he whispered harshly. “Where are you? Come out of the woods at once.” But only stony silence followed. Brendan fearfully wondered if it was really William whom he had spotted. He grabbed a dagger from his supply pack and a large stick from the kindling pile and plunged into the woods to follow the stranger, believing he would lead him to his brother.

He searched for almost a half hour, listening for sounds of snapping twigs or rustling leaves, but the tenuous trail had evaporated. He burrowed deeper into the woods, not certain which direction he was going and using faint glimpses of filtered moonlight to guide him. But even that proved useless after a while as more clouds rolled in and darkened the sky. Nearly an hour after entering the Ebrean Forest, Brendan realized that he was lost and would have to wait until dawn before he could find a way out. He walked a few more uncertain steps, blaming himself for the horrible situation that had befallen him and his brother. He was ready to drop down on the forest floor in despair when he noted a dark shape sprawled out at the base of a nearby tree, shifting slightly in the gloom.

Brendan clutched his dagger in one hand and the stick in the other as he inched closer, but the object remained still. When he reached the shadowy mass, he leaned over it and slowly exhaled a sigh of relief. He gently prodded the slumped figure with the toe of his boot, tossing the stick aside and sheathing his dagger.

“Wake up, you lazy troublemaker!” he said to his brother. Brendan’s delight upon finding William safe and sound outweighed, for the moment, his urge to scold him.

William opened his eyes. “
Wha
…” He looked around, for a moment disoriented until he recognized his brother in the murky shadows. “Brendan, what are you doing here?” He sat up straight and rubbed an ache in his shoulder. “By the way, where’s
here
?”

“We’re in the middle of the woods, Will. Lost, I think.”

William nodded, his recollection of events returning to him. “I remember now,” he said, scowling at Brendan. “Why did you run away after we talked last night? And what were you talking about? You sounded quite mad.”

Brendan sat next to his brother. “What are
you
talking about? The last time we spoke was before we fell asleep by the fire.”

“Not quite,” he said. “We spoke to each other inside the woods when you asked me all those strange questions.”

“I did?” Brendan’s heart beat faster, certain his brother hadn’t been dreaming as he recalled the dark figure who had been spying around the campsite. “Tell me exactly what happened to you, Will. Every detail.”

Prince William yawned. “All right. I went for a walk around midnight, I guess. I couldn’t sleep well,” he said, continuing to massage his sore shoulder. “You were sound asleep. I walked along the edge of the woods for a good distance when I heard a voice calling my name from inside the trees. It sounded like you, Brendan, and as I thought you were playing a trick on me, I went into the woods after you.”

“That wasn’t me. But what’d you find?”

“
You
, of course, though it took some doing following your voice this way and that through the trees. I’m not quite sure how deep inside I chased you, because as you see, I couldn’t find my way back out. I decided to sleep here until the morning light.” William gazed curiously at his brother. “Why’d you do that?”

Brendan rolled his eyes. “Will, it wasn’t me. I’d been sleeping the whole time until I awoke and saw you missing. I went searching for you.” He noted a veil of confusion upon William’s face in the vague, predawn light. “Tell me about this conversation with–
me
.”

“You asked me if I had it safe.”

“Had
what
safe?”

“Had
it
safe. That’s what you wanted to know, Brendan. Did I have
it
safe?” William shrugged. “When I said I didn’t know what you were talking about, you grew angry and demanded to see it.”

Brendan leaned back against the tree, contemplating William’s mysterious narrative. “And this person who apparently looked like me didn’t give you any clue as to what he was talking about?”

“None at all. After insisting a second time that I let him see it, I replied again that I had no idea what you–or rather
he
–was talking about,” William explained. “Then he ran away. I tried to follow but lost the trail. And well, here I am.”

“And here I am with you,” Brendan remarked before telling his brother about the figure he had spotted looking for something near the campsite and the horses. “I guess we can assume that he was looking for
it
there as well, whatever
it
might be.”

William scratched his head. “You’re truly saying that it wasn’t you who I chased after through the woods and talked to?”

“It wasn’t, Will. How many times must I insist?”

“I suppose no more than that,” he said, unnerved. “So who did I talk to, Brendan? I wasn’t dreaming. And what was he looking for that he apparently thought one of us possessed?”

“I don’t know, so we’d best keep our eyes open,” he gravely replied. He stood and surveyed the ominous stretch of woods coming alive with a hint of gray. The cool, damp air felt as oppressive to their spirits as did the sudden change in their fortunes. “If somebody out there is after us, I want to find him first.”

“Agreed,” William said, wearily standing up. “But first we have to find our way out of here. Any suggestions?”

CHAPTER 33

A Cabin in the Woods

William shook his brother awake as he lay curled up on the forest floor, his face pale and cold in the dull morning light.

“
Now
who’s being the lazy one?” he said as Brendan slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. “On your feet. It’s getting brighter.”

Brendan yawned. “Did we both fall asleep?”

“We needed the rest, though I’ve been up awhile. From the look of things, I’d say we’re lost. I see gray sky above but no sign of light anywhere around us.”

“I guess we choose a path and start walking.” Brendan stood and worked the aches out of his heavy limbs. He deeply inhaled the pine scented air to revive himself. “I could stand some breakfast, but all our supplies are back at the campsite with the horses.”

“Maybe they’ll enjoy a pleasant meal,” William joked, pointing a finger in one direction. “I think we should go that way.”

“Why?”

“It looks like the least menacing section of the forest.”

“Not by much,” Brendan muttered as he examined the endless prison of towering trees woven together with suffocating shadows. The cold ground was littered with decaying leaves, broken twigs and moss-shrouded limbs that had fallen in years past. “Well your choice is as good as any, so lead on. But if we come out on the other side of the forest with the Northern Mountains looking down on us, I’ll have you to blame.”

“We’d be that much closer to Kargoth,” his brother said lightly. “We could have a sit-down with Vellan and try to talk some sense into him. It’d save King Justin the headache of going to war.”

“If only it could be so simple, Will. I fear that Vellan’s mind is as stubborn and immovable as the mountain he lives in.” He grabbed a branch lying on the ground and snapped part of it off across his knee, using the larger piece as a walking stick. “What possesses him to grasp power just for the sake of exerting it over others, well, I could never quite figure out. He only brings misery to people.”

“And Caldurian is a lesser version of him,” William said, wondering what mischief the wizard was inflicting upon Montavia.

“But still powerful,” his brother reminded him. “We saw it for ourselves and had better not forget it.” He rested a hand on William’s shoulder, looking bluntly into his eyes. “If either of us is king one day, we must always remember how we felt when we were attacked–when the Islanders, Caldurian and those Enâri creatures stormed Red Lodge and threw our lives into chaos. We must vow never to let that happen again, Will, and be prepared to defend Montavia at all costs.”

William nodded, barely able to reply, not used to hearing his brother speak so earnestly. “I promise,” he managed to utter, seeing the wisdom in his brother’s eyes and feeling for a moment as if he were already king. “I’ll remember.”

“Good,” he said, offering a reassuring smile before they began their trek through the woods. He wondered what Montavia might look like once they returned, certain that his mother and grandfather were enduring the hardship with honor and resolve. He hoped their ordeal would soon be over once Prince Gregory entered Triana with him and William riding at his side. Though he had told his brother not to expect them to be leading the charge, Brendan couldn’t help envisioning that scenario nonetheless. His imagination was the only power he could wield at the moment to save their kingdom.

They hiked through the Ebrean Forest for over an hour, feeling as if they were traveling in circles. William uttered aloud that he may have picked the wrong direction. Brendan smiled to himself, thinking the same thing but wanting to give his brother the opportunity to voice that notion first.

“Maybe you should choose another way, Brendan, so we can find our way out. I’m getting hungry.”

“What makes you think I’ll fare any better?”

William grunted. “Can it get much worse?”

“I suppose not.” Brendan pointed to a low rise in the ground several yards away. “Let’s hike up that knoll and look for any sign of daylight through the trees. If we see nothing there then we’ll head that way,” he decided, swinging his arm ninety degrees to the right. “I wish the clouds weren’t so thick this morning. I can’t tell where the sun is located. Maybe they’ll thin out as the day wears on.”

“Or before we wear out. I’m so hungry that the tree bark is starting to look good!”

Brendan marched up the knoll as William followed, feeling hungry himself but putting it out of his mind. His first duty was to lead them back to the campsite and then arrange an audience with King Cedric. But if he couldn’t accomplish either soon, all his addresses to William about being a good leader would ring hollow. He wondered if their journey to Drumaya had been such an intelligent idea after all, but as he reached the top of the knoll, his spirits lifted. In the hilly stretch of forest before them, the intoxicating sound of splashing water caught their attention.

“A stream!” William shouted, scrambling down the other side of the knoll and racing toward a narrow waterway flowing among moss covered rocks and creating a series of mini waterfalls. The gentle rush of water emitted a hypnotic language of its own that whispered among the trees. The brothers were soon greedily drinking as if the water itself was a fine meal on its own.

“That definitely hit the spot,” Brendan said moments later as he stood up, brushing the dirt off his trousers. “Now if only a platter of roasted venison would magically appear for our dining pleasure! You wouldn’t turn your nose up at that, would you, Will?” He noticed his brother standing frozen in place, staring off in the distance. “What are you looking at?”

William turned, smiling. “I can’t promise you venison, but would a cabin do?”

“What are you talking about?”

“
That
!” William pointed to a cluster of trees beyond the stream. “What does it look like to you?”

Brendan strained his eyes and gazed among the distant shadows, confirming his brother’s discovery. “You just made my day, Will. But who could be living out here in the middle of nowhere?”

“Let’s find out,” he said eagerly. “I’ve no objection to sampling some
middle-of-nowhere food if you aren’t.”

“If the prince so decrees it, then that’s what we’ll do,” Brendan jovially spoke as he searched out a path of rocks and carefully led them across the noisy stream.

Moments later, he and William emerged through a clump of trees and cautiously approached the two-story cabin built of roughly hewn pine logs in a small clearing. A stone chimney was blackened around its edges, but no swirls of smoke escaped at the moment. Thick wooden shutters sealed any window openings. The front door was closed. Tall grass and weeds, now dried out, had grown messily around the area. Thick clouds passed overhead. Brendan signaled for his brother to follow him around to the side and back, but there the weeds had grown untended among heaps of discarded pine branches. A stack of chopped wood stood piled against the back wall.

“Doesn’t look like anyone’s around,” Brendan said.

“From the appearance of this place, it doesn’t seem as if anyone’s been here for quite a while. Shall we go inside?”

Brendan nodded. “But let’s knock to be sure,” he said as they made their way around to the front of the cabin.

A moment later, Brendan rapped his knuckles against the door, though neither expected an answer. He repeated this a second time, and after waiting a few moments in the dense silence of the forest, he decided that the place was temporarily abandoned. He grabbed the handle and pushed the door open, a stale darkness greeting them as they stepped inside.

“Hello,” Brendan called out, his words eaten up in the shadows. “
Hello
?”

“Guess nobody’s home,” William said, his courage growing.

He walked past his brother and pushed open one of the front shutters, allowing more light into the room. A stone fireplace stood against the side wall, a blanket of cold ashes and charred logs piled inside. An old table in the center of the room was surrounded with a half dozen wooden chairs. Several shelves filled with dishes, clay storage jars and other items lined most of the downstairs walls. A ladder constructed from sturdy oak branches that had been stripped of their bark stood against the back wall and extended through a hole in the ceiling to the room above. When William eyed a cloth sack lying on a narrow counter below another unopened window, he scurried over to examine it. He smiled when he peered into the bag, reaching inside and removing an apple. He tossed it to Brendan before pulling out another one for himself.

“Should we?” Brendan asked.

“If we find any parchment and ink, we’ll leave a note promising to repay the food,” he said with a grimace before taking a bite of the apple. It tasted sweet and crisp, causing him to speculate that perhaps the owner of the cabin had recently been here. “Eat up while we have the opportunity.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Brendan replied, joining his brother in their apple breakfast. As he savored the fruit, he turned around when a rustle of leaves sounded outside the still opened front door. He flinched, startled to see a young deer roaming in the clearing, its nose to the ground searching for a morsel to eat. “I can’t believe it,” he softly said, indicating for William to take a look. “We seem to attract those animals, don’t we?”

William laughed. “If it wasn’t a different deer, I might be suspicious and think we were being followed.”

“Well we’re not feeding it this time,” he said as he promptly closed the door. “Let’s build a fire and warm up, then we can check the upper room. Until we determine our bearings, there’s no point in leaving this place. We might as well make ourselves comfortable.”

Less than an hour later, they were sitting in front of a blazing fire, each having finished a second apple and a bit of dry bread they found wrapped in cloth next to the fruit. They stretched their legs, warming the soles of their boots in the soothing billows of heat.

“Though it’s early, I feel as if I could doze for hours,” William said. “The little sleep I got last night wasn’t the restful sort.”

“There are mattress rolls and blankets upstairs,” Brendan reminded him. “Take a nap if you’d like. We won’t leave for an hour or two until the sun’s higher. Maybe some of the clouds will have burned off by then and we’ll be able to find our way out.” He stood and walked across the room. “In the meantime, I’ll fill one of the containers in the stream. I’m thirsty.” After he spotted a clay pitcher sitting on one of the cluttered shelves, he happened to glance out the window and laughed as a cool draft wafted inside. “Guess who’s still keeping an eye on us, Will?”

“What’s that?” he asked, craning his head back.

“Our friend is nosing about,” Brendan replied, admiring the deer feasting on the vegetation outside. “It must have heard us talking about the apples.”

“Feed him from your share,” William said. He stood and stretched, feeling tired. “I think I
will
go upstairs and rest. I don’t want to nod off if we ever meet with King Cedric.”

“Go ahead. I’ll be back shortly.” He closed the shutters just as the deer raised its head. “Pleasant dreams.”

“Thanks,” William muttered as he started to climb the ladder to the sleeping loft, his eyelids growing heavier by the moment.

Brendan took the clay pitcher from the shelf and walked to the door, grabbing the handle. “But don’t expect to sleep away the entire morning,” he amiably warned his brother who was halfway up the ladder. “I’ll wake you when I’m ready to leave.”

“Don’t hurry on my account,” he replied with a yawn.

“Lazy heap,” Brendan said with a chuckle as he swung open the door.

He immediately jumped in fright, startled to petrified attention as he gazed at the shadowy, grotesque figure looming in the doorway. The pitcher fell from his hand and shattered as he stumbled backward, crying out in terrified disbelief. William, his head nearly through the hole in the ceiling, looked down at the sudden commotion and felt his heart grow cold. The wizard Arileez stood tall in the doorway, the lifeless eyes in his skeletal face locking gazes with Brendan. The wizard’s shock of white hair flowing beneath the hood of his battered cloak belied the darkness of thought and purpose coursing through the arteries and nerves of his ancient body. Arileez removed his hood and advanced toward Brendan, the young prince experiencing a strange familiarity emanating from deep within the eyes staring back at him, the exact same eeriness he sensed when looking into the eyes of both Sorli and the buck they had fed along the road. When the initial shock wore off, he found his voice and warned his brother.

“Will, get out of here!” he shouted, scrambling to the fireplace and grabbing a metal poker. He raised it in the air to fend off Arileez, daring him to take another step. “Who are you?”

“Give it to me,” Arileez commanded in a voice both rasping and shrill, draining the hope out of all who heard it.

William looked down at the surreal scene as he hung onto the ladder, feeling as if a dreadful dream had wrapped itself around his mind before he had fallen asleep, yet knowing it was all too true. He had to help his brother. “I’m coming, Brendan!” he said despite the tightening of his vocal cords and the pounding of his heart.