The WishKeeper (The Paragonia Chronicles) (4 page)

With dust trailing behind them as they flew, they wore black robes with hoods that covered their pitch-black faces. Their wings were gnarled and broken. They didn’t fly as flying goes, but instead used their wands like grappling hooks, spiraling thick spells from tree to tree, swinging and propelling themselves through the air like dusty shadowed rogues. More than just Erebus had taken over The Other Side.

The job was simple, really. You’re assigned a WishMaker. Every wish he or she makes needs to be tracked, monitored and wrangled if strong enough. Thane was taught in his wrangling classes that most wishes were wasteful little wisps from lazy Makers, but every now and then a fully formed wish would be worthy of bringing back. Thane remembered how much anxiety pulsed through him when he first heard that a Keeper’s job was to manage all of its Maker’s wishes. Thankful that only some were strong enough to hold any meaning, it still didn’t make a Keeper’s job any easier. There were stories of such eager and wishful Makers that its Keeper would go mad trying to wrangle all of them, but none of what he learned mattered at the moment. Since Erebus had taken over The Other Side, hardly any wish was wrangled and brought back to The Nursery. A Keeper was lucky to retrieve any at all, and since Thane had just wrangled his very first wish, even if it was just a training wish, nothing was going to stop him from completing his mission; except for maybe the army of zombie fairies currently surrounding him.

A hundred yards in front of him was the giant oak. A soft white light vibrated and pulsed from the trunk high up in the tree. It was the Gate that his general had marked for the recruits’ return. Finally, he’d found it. He would get ridiculed for days and days once he got back to headquarters. If I get back, Thane thought. The last Keeper to finish pre-trials was always hammered with cocky insults. He wasn’t sure if he was more worried about returning to the ridicule from his fellow recruits, or the Lost Fairies swarming him. Nonetheless, he had to get to the Gate fast and needed to gather a little courage before doing so.

He had a tendency to talk to himself, especially when complaining, “Let’s just shine a bright light and tell everyone exactly where I’m headed. Come on!”

*       *       *       *

Within the main surveillance office of the Fairy Intelligence Agency, a massive circular room rimmed with maps and radars, sat a WishSentinel. A WishSentinel’s job is to survey various regions of The Other Side and track the positions of WishKeepers as they tend to their Makers. On this day, the Sentinel was relegated to tracking the recruits. Thane was still struggling to get back and the WishSentinel couldn’t help but get a little worked up while watching Thane have difficulty. The Sentinel had spent all morning monitoring the trainees’ whereabouts and even though he had finally found Thane, his patience was quickly receding.

On the screen in front of him, he watched Thane crouch along a tree branch, holding his little pink wish.

“Don’t just sit there! Get up! The gate’s right there. Go!” the Sentinel called out.

“You know he can’t hear you, right?”

A voice came from across the room. The Sentinel knew who said it and spilled his tea a bit while standing and saluting.

“Yes, right sir. Of course, sir”, he reacted.

The years had not been kind to Beren, but Shea’s growing rebellion didn’t help his aging process. He looked even more exhausted on this particular day, his dead wife’s birthday and all. His hair was streaked with grey and his eyes revealed too many sleepless nights. “How’s the trainee doing?”

“He needs assistance, sir. He’ll be surrounded any…” the nervous Sentinel started.

“At ease. Sit,” Beren said as he picked his teeth with a stick. He bent over and eyed the surveillance screen that showed Thane still crouching.

“It’s Thane’s fourth Keeping trial. He blows this one, he’s done. No aid,” he said.

“Yes, sir. He actually has a wish this time, sir. A Purity.”

Beren rolled his eyes at the news. A Purity. Not much of a challenge. He removed the stick from his teeth and looked a little closer at the monitor. Indeed, there was the little pink wish.

“Better get goin’, kid.”

*       *       *       *

Mustering as much courage as he could, Thane slapped the bark of the tree, trying to pump himself up.

“Here we go, Thane. Last chance to - whoa!” he jumped back just as a green spell blasted the side of the tree, missing his face by inches. He sharpened his eyes to a squint and dashed off the branch, soaring toward the oak. Green spells lit up the darkness of the frozen forest as he dodged, twirled and lunged for the glowing Gate. Crashing to a thud at the base of it, the wish bounced out of his arms. A Lost Fairy’s spell exploded, just missing the floating wish. Thane was lucky this was a Purity, it floated right back to him. He cast a wrangling spell around it and pulled it in.

“No, no, no, get back here!”

He gripped it tight and pulled it close as he looked out at the snow-soaked forest.

Hundreds of Lost Fairies dangled from branches, loosely holding grappling spells and hanging from every tree like bats poised to pounce. They were waiting patiently, daring him to make a move.

“Oh boy.”

Thane slowly aimed his wand as if to fire, but instead quickly turned toward the tree behind him and blasted a spell. It connected to the vibrating Gate. Blinding white light beamed and filled the forest. Thane smiled at his hungry attackers as they covered their faces and fell from the trees like dazed gnats. He laughed and, shoulder first, hurried through what he thought was an open Gate but, “Ow!” He slammed his face against the tree. It didn’t open.

“Oh come on!” he begged. He slammed his shoulder into the tree again as if trying to open a locked door. The light of the Gate slowly faded and the Lost Fairies recovered, blasting back into the trees.

“Open! Open please!” he cried and slammed his shoulder into it repeatedly. Nothing but solid tree bark.

A deep black shadow slowly crept over him, blotting out the light of the Gate entirely. Thane turned and looked. Directly in front of him, stemming from the snowy ground and growing ever larger, was a black hooded, enormous shadow. Erebus morphed into his hooded shape and peeked bright red eyes out of a hooded cloak. At one time Erebus was human, but since his fall into greed, his evil changed him into nothing more than shadow. Thane knew all about Erebus and the WishingKing’s downfall. He was barely seven years old when Erebus was cast away, and the True Love Wish was destroyed. But even though he knew about Erebus, and had heard the stories of his demented control over The Other Side, he had never seen him before. Very quickly he was reminded why he never wanted to. He could only stare, fighting unexpected tears, as the shadow of their one-time king towered over him and smiled an evil grin.

*       *       *       *

The WishSentinel covered his face with his hands, this time sincerely worried about the recruit, but he couldn’t watch.

“Why isn’t the gate opening?” he cried.

“Whose gate is that?” asked Beren, frustrated and almost as worried as the Sentinel.

“I don’t know!” yelled the Sentinel, completely losing his cool.

“What do you mean you don’t know? It’s your job to know! Whose gate is it?”

The Sentinel realized his foolishness and quickly flipped through a clipboard, “Oh wait! It’s…it’s here somewhere, I mean, of course I know whose gate...” The Sentinel kept rifling through the clipboard as Beren leaned toward the surveillance monitor, getting a better look. Looking hard at the screen, Beren realized on his own who the GateKeeper was. His fists clenched with tight frustration.

“Here!” yelled the Sentinel. “The GateKeeper is…oh dear.”

“Assemble a Keeper force! Now! Get him out of there,” Beren demanded as he flew out a nearby window.

The Sentinel, still panicked, threw the clipboard and rushed toward a nearby communication monitor. “Yes, sir!”

5

The Wingless Wonder

High up in an ancient oak tree, a slight breeze rustled the leaves of the Paragonian forest. The sun was shining and the sky was a perfect clear blue. Simple sounds of birds chirping to their friends were interrupted by a beeping alarm somewhere below. A call that no one was answering.

BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP!

A few leaves, knocked from the grip of their oak companion, lazily floated down as a hand tugged a nearby branch with a grunt. A faded, muddied black boot gained its balance on another branch and pushed off. Climbing and climbing, someone was ignoring the incessant alarm.

Finally finding the topmost branch, the fairy climbed up. Pulling aviator goggles over her eyes, Shea took a deep breath. Her shredded wings silhouetted the setting sun falling behind the mountains in front of her. At the tallest point of the ancient tree, Shea balanced on a thin branch and leaned. The valley spread out beneath her. It was a deadly drop, to say the least.

“Let’s do this,” she said as she readied herself. She snatched her wand, held out her arms straight to the side and with a deep breath…

BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP!

The alarm below was getting louder and, annoyed, Shea muttered some form of a frustrated curse word. Impatient, she pulled the goggles off, clamped her wand between her teeth and climbed down. Finally plopping down near the middle of the tree, she straightened her skirt and rolled her eyes with a grumbled sigh. In front of her was a vibrating, pulsing white light. The other end of a Gate.

BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP!

“Yeah, yeah! Relax.”

*       *       *       *

Thane leaned against the trunk, never taking his eyes off of the taunting Erebus towering over him. “Uh, knock, knock? Please?” he said, begging the oak.

Thane’s eyes were fixed on Erebus. Staring into his eyes, he could feel the cold loneliness that perpetual darkness brings and a rush of hopelessness swept through him.

Erebus smiled, slowly raised his black, shadowed arms and curled a foggy finger. His Lost Fairies charged. They blasted themselves onto the branch, diving at Thane. Punching and kicking his way through the onslaught, Thane was handling the pawns well, but still gripping the wish with his other hand. Hand to hand combat wasn’t going to last. It was one hand against many hands.

Reaching his own black hand toward him, Erebus was inches away before Thane exploded a powerful spell and sent his attackers careening off the branch.

“Get off me!” Thane screamed in frustration.

Erebus recoiled at the light, but with the blast, Thane lost control of the wish. It was loose and though he dived for it, Erebus was quicker. He whipped a wave of black fog at Thane, using the darkness like a weapon, and blasted him back against the tree. A Lost Fairy snagged and recovered the floating wish. He placed it in Erebus’ dusty black palm and like a thunderbolt, the wish cracked and exploded. Its energy pulsed through Erebus. Breathing in, he consumed the energy of the wish.

Grey and lifeless, the wish slid out of Erebus’ hand and fell, disintegrating in the wind. Peering back at a dizzy Thane, the shadow king slowly reached for him again. The Lost Fairies swung to the branch and approached, menacing, surrounding him.

“Don’t you wish to stay, little Keeper? You would do well here,” said Erebus.

“I’d rather die,” returned Thane, out of breath.

Erebus smiled, “Really? Then your wish is my - well, you know what I mean.”

All of Erebus’ black fog raged toward Thane. It poured over him like a tidal wave, but the sudden exploding light of the Gate blocked the rush of darkness. It opened and pulled Thane through.

*       *       *       *

Crashing to the other side of the Gate, Thane was thrown to the ground, knocking Shea over. They collided, rolled and slid through the grass, tangled.

“Easy on the reentry, geez!” cried Shea.

“Easy on the - are you kidding me?” Thane picked himself up. He charged toward Shea, wand pointed. “I was just staring into the eyes of my death!”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic!” countered Shea.

“You lazy, no good -!” this time, Thane sprinted at her.

“Go ahead, say it!” Shea replied, begging for a fight.

“Wingless gimp!” Thane yelled.

Enraged, Shea jumped on his back and swung her fists. Knuckles tumbled, five at a time, down upon Thane’s forehead. He tried grabbing Shea’s wild fists and was surprised at how much those little fists actually hurt. He spun himself, begging gravity for a little help, but she was stuck to him, relentless.

“Get off me!” Thane screamed.

“That’s enough!” a voice yelled as a green spell knocked the wild duo to the ground. Grabbing Thane and pulling him away, Beren swooped in and broke up the fight. “You’re twice her size, Thane, knock it off!”

“Sir, because of her we lost another wish! My wish! Why is she guarding a gate? She can’t even -!”

“At ease, private!” Beren cut him off.

Thane backed up, following orders, but heaving breaths of frustration. Beren pointed at Shea, pissed. A wooden stump appeared behind her. “Sit down,” Beren ordered.

Thane obeyed the order and gruffly took a seat on the stump while Shea, still out of breath, just stared at her father.

“Thane,” Beren said, not wanting to have to correct him.

“Oh her, yes sir,” he said standing, realizing the seat wasn’t for him.

“It’s not my fault Big Nose lost another wish,” Shea said.

“I said, sit down!” and this time Beren wasn’t holding back. Shea finally obeyed the order. “Please tell me, how often do we bring wishes back?” Shea rolled her eyes in response, prompting Beren to ask again.

“How often?”

Thane chimed in, “It’s been a while since we’ve -”

“I’m talking to my daughter!” Beren barked. Thane clamped his mouth shut. Saluted.