Bricrui (The Forgotten: Book 2) Read online

  “Do you know how he did it?”

  “Not exactly,” the girl admitted, “It was some sort of mix of blood-magic but I’ve never been trained before except what they told me to do with it so I wouldn’t know…but he did have a special item that belonged to each of the Council members that was involved in the spell. I think he put them all in a box somewhere so they’re probably important for keeping it going.”

  Layna tensed in excitement. If there were items that could be found and destroyed to break the spell, there was some hope! “Thank you, Alina. That is most helpful.”

  The two girls nodded and reined their horse farther back so that Layna was riding alone once more. She contacted Gryffon hastily and filled him in on this newest development. If they could just find these items and get their Council back, they would be able to concentrate on other matters. When she had finished her conversation with Gryffon, she rode staring off into space. She didn’t even hear as Natalya pulled up next to her once more.

  “Queen Layna?” Natalya whispered to her. Layna looked over and saw that Alina had fallen asleep propped up in front of her, kept on the horse by Natalya’s arms around her holding the reins.

  “Yes, Natalya?”

  “Alina is going to turn into one of those creatures.”

  “What?” She had hoped that Natalya would not have found out quite so soon.

  “She says that all of the people who did the controlling part are the first ones who started showing signs, but that eventually even the ones who had only participated by channeling power had begun to come down with it.”

  Layna was silent for a long moment. Then she put on a determined expression and said firmly, “We’re not going to let that happen.”

  CHAPTER 11

  Lorcan cracked open the book after peering around to make sure that no one was looking towards his hiding spot. He had been reading it in short bursts whenever he could sneak away for a few moments and had already learned more than they had ever been taught about their tribe’s history.

  Some of the information was irrelevant to their current situation, but he had recently started a passage about stones which he thought might be useful given that Katya had been sent after a particular stone. He was soon engrossed in the material and before he realized it, the sun was beginning to fade into the trees. He hopped quickly down from the secret spot, stashing the book carefully away, and made a bee-line for Raina’s house.

  “Raina?” he whispered outside her window. A moment later, her face appeared.

  “Just a minute,” she said, disappearing back into the room. A short time later she reappeared, slipping out the window. She took his hand and they slunk around the side of her house to talk in the shadows. “What did you find out?”

  “The book says that when our ancestors left the Lost Lands, fleeing from the Dark King, they formed a pact with each other, calling themselves The Forgotten. They created a stone with the power of every mage who had escaped in order to tame the chaotic magic enough to live up here and to create spells which would keep the Lost Ones from finding us. After the spell was complete, it was decided that the stone was too powerful and too dangerous for any one person to be able to control. There were already differences of opinion on where we should settle. Many wanted to remain in the forest here because it was close to their homes, even though they knew they could never go back, since it was comforting to them. Others were attracted to the open air of the plains, others the promise of water to the west, and still others to the mystery of the unknown to the north. So, it was decided that the stone would be split into five parts, with each of the sections being safe-guarded by the leader of each of the factions. Then, they all went their separate directions, becoming the different tribes of The Forgotten as we are today. There was something else too, but it didn’t explain what, that made it important to have the stone separated.”

  “Are these stones still around?” Raina asked.

  “I don’t know. The book seemed to imply that they were and it would explain a lot, like why the other tribes needed to come for this spell and brought stones with them.”

  “So they brought these powerstones?”

  “I don’t think so. At least, not exactly. I think the powerstones have to stay in a special place that was created for them or else they cannot protect the tribe, but the stones that they brought probably held the essence of power from each which when combined makes the spell they perform that much more powerful.”

  “So if Katya brings back the stone the Elders want, it would expose the Dena’ina to the dangers of the chaotic magic?”

  Lorcan fought hard against the hatred that welled up within him. After what they had done to his parents, he found it hard to have any sympathy for their plight. “Maybe they don’t deserve the protection of the stone any more if they are attacking other tribes,” he said more vehemently than intended.

  Raina stared at him for a long moment, her eyes reflecting the magelights that lined the walkways. “It was only a small number of people that killed your parents,” she said softly, “and it was a long time ago. Is your anger not similar to the Elders grudge against the Dark King?”

  “My parents were killed by people who are still alive because of how the tribe feels about the other tribes. I’m not mad at their children’s children.”

  “Okay,” Raina held up her hands in surrender. “So the Elders want to steal the stone so that the Dena’ina become vulnerable?”

  “I don’t think so,” Lorcan shook his head, “at least that’s not the primary purpose. If all five of the stones that made up the original powerstone are used for a spell, it will make that spell completely unbreakable. I’ve heard the Elders worrying that the spell they set on the baby – the Princess – would be found and broken. They seem to think that after Katya returns with this other stone, that that would no longer be an issue. I think that’s why they want her to do it.”

  Raina sucked in her breath. “So the Lost Ones would be unable to do anything about whatever the curse is that was placed upon the baby once the essences of all five stones have been used to strengthen it?”

  “And we still don’t know what that is,” Lorcan added. “I also think that they’re going to kill Katya and Hunter once she returns with the stone. She knows too much and I just don’t see Kali letting her go back to the Lost Ones with so much knowledge.”

  “The life of one woman hardly matters,” Raina said in a strange tone, a shadow passing over her face. “Why should we worry about her?”

  “Because she’s a person,” Lorcan countered, surprised by Raina’s lack of concern over Katya’s well-being. Usually she was the one to remind him about the humanity of others. Her jealously completely eluded him. He changed the subject. “Have you found anything out?”

  “I’ve been trying to pry information out of my parents, but they’re being pretty tight-lipped. The impression that I got was that the Elders call groups of people in to let them know about certain situations, and that they are told not to talk about it with anyone else. I would guess that that’s how she’s keeping everyone in the dark.” Their little band had decided that Kali was the ring-leader of the conspiracy – not surprising as she was the leader of the Elders – and that it was she who was controlling the information. “From how my parents spoke about it, I’d guess that she makes them feel special that they’ve been allowed in on a secret. That keeps them from discussing it with others and therefore they don’t have any questions about what she hasn’t told them.”

  “Would they tell you anything about the incident?”

  “No,” Raina said, “but they were pretty agitated about it and seemed to hold the Dena’ina in contempt, so I would guess that they know what really happened to your parents and the others. I don’t know why they are keeping it a secret though. If one of the tribes is effectively declaring war on the others, shouldn’t we all know about it?”

  “I don’t know,” Lorcan said distractedly. “Maybe they don’t want us to
lose our focus on hating the Lost Ones by being distracted hating another tribe.”

  “I think people are starting to question the validity of hating the Lost Ones,” Raina said. “Even though I’m pretty sure the Elders tried to cover it up, there were enough people who heard the stories the strangers told that rumors have been spreading like wildfire. Apparently Gareth kept asking all sorts of questions which revealed that the Lost Ones’ Queen actually hosted the essences of the Three from the Kiani Stones. I overheard my parents talking to one another last night about what the girl had said. They seemed to think that the Queen of the Lost Ones might not be so bad after all, that the gods had seen fit to communicate with her so she couldn’t be that bad. They seemed almost scared to be saying something good about her, though, even just in front of one another.”

  Though the tribes had lost contact with the Kiani Stones when they migrated north, they were a part of their history that was still passed down. The dragon gods had spoken to the ancients through these stones and they were most sacred. The people of the Lost Lands had forgotten the Stones’ existences, but the tribes remembered their significance, if not where they were. If it was true that the Stones had been found and that they were communicating with the Lost Ones, the tribes might very well rethink their hatred for them. The tribes were taught that the Lost Ones weren’t even people, that the gods had forsaken them in their evil. This proof otherwise would rock the very foundation of their beliefs.

  “I’m surprised that Gareth was allowed down there,” Lorcan stated. Gareth had been in the community house ever since he could remember and everyone knew he was just a crotchety old man. Usually the Elders kept him neatly away from all their dealings.

  “That’s just it,” Raina said excitedly, “Apparently before something happened that made Gareth ‘go mad’, he was actually the head of the Elders himself. He’s a direct descendant of Shelia Greyclaw and he was well-respected once. That’s why everyone puts up with him being so mean.”

  Lorcan’s mind whirled. “That means he could tell us what’s really going on!” he exclaimed. “He could tell me exactly what happened with my parents and if the stone is still around, and everything!”

  “Why didn’t he tell you already?”

  Lorcan’s expression turned dark. “Same reason as everyone else lied to me I guess, but he will tell me now.”

  “I don’t think that everyone lied,” Raina interjected. “From what I’ve learned from my parents and what the other kids have said, it sounds like a lot of people just don’t have any idea what’s going on. They really believe that the child was cured of some sickness and that we did some favor for the Lost Ones so that the baby could usher in a new era of light for them and one day they might regain their humanity and we might reunite.”

  A light flicked on in the front of Raina’s house and sounds came from inside.

  “I have to go,” Raina whispered quickly and gave him a quick kiss before slipping back in through her window moments before the light to her room suddenly glowed to life.

  Lorcan heard her mother’s voice as he crept away, letting Raina know they were back. She had gotten in just in time.

  He made his way towards the prison section, intent on finding out what Gareth knew. As he passed through the Second Circle, however, he was intercepted by Slade.

  “What are you doing?” he demanded.

  “Nothing,” Lorcan said, shaking his arm out of his brother’s grasp.

  Slade raised a warning eyebrow at him. “I know you’ve been creating some sort of group with the other children and creating disturbances. So don’t give me ‘nothing’.”

  “Nothing that’s any of your business,” Lorcan amended. “You’re not my father.”

  Slade looked taken aback. “I’m as close as you have anymore,” he said softly.

  “And yet you still lied to me, gee thanks,” Lorcan spat sarcastically.

  The pained look on his brother’s face told him he had hit a nerve. Good.

  “How could you have let me believe a lie about how our parents died?” he asked, his voice cracking. “Don’t you think that’s something that would have been important to tell me? Don’t I deserve to know how my mother and my father died? You LIED to me. Didn’t just keep it a secret, but flat-out came up with another story and lied to my face.”

  “Kali told me not to tell you,” Slade said lamely.

  “Well that’s nice,” Lorcan said, “Good to know that your loyalty is to a lying manipulative woman rather than to your family! Kali’s been lying to everyone in the tribe. She’s probably lying to you too! The baby wasn’t cured of any ailment, you know. Do you know what they really did? They put a curse on it, something to try to rid the world of the taint of the Dark King. Do they realize he’s been gone for hundreds of years now?” Lorcan was getting hysterical and realized that he was fairly shouting. For once, his brother did not scold him for it.

  “I know,” he said softly instead.

  “You know?” Lorcan asked incredulously. “What do you know?”

  “I know that the purpose of the spell isn’t to aid the child.”

  “Do you know what it is for?” Lorcan asked, his anger dulled slightly by curiosity.

  “I do,” Slade acknowledged with a nod, looking uncomfortable.

  “Well, what is it?”

  “If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone,” Slade pleaded. “I don’t want to lie to you. You’re right, we’re family - but you have to keep this a secret.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Lorcan asked, disgusted. “You want me to lie to the rest of the tribe for Kali too?”

  “They wouldn’t understand,” Slade said, “Kali says that in order to bring the Lost Ones back to the light, the last of the Dark King’s line must be wiped out. It’s for the greater good. And it doesn’t really hurt anyone. Telling the tribe that we are helping the child is true. We are helping her to spread the light to her people. We may be keeping the method from them, but the end goal is what everyone wants. The curse will bring about a cleansing of the Dark King’s last influence on our world.”

  “How?” Lorcan insisted.

  Slade slumped his shoulders in defeat. “The curse works like a disease, spreading from the child to those she comes in contact with, and from them to others.”

  Lorcan waited impatiently. “To do what?”

  “It detects any trace of the Dark King’s blood, and if it finds any, it renders that person sterile.”

  “What?” Loran was horrified.

  “So you see, it’s not really hurting people, it’s just making it so that the Dark King’s blood is completely eradicated. The next generation will be able to live in a world free from his evil.”

  “That’s not right,” Lorcan said, hardly believing what he had just heard. “Can’t you see how Kali is manipulating you? Making you think that you are doing something good by doing something so completely wrong? How would you like to be sterilized because someone didn’t like our great-great-great grandfather? Really, Slade? I thought you were smarter than that.”

  “Kali says-” Slade started, but Lorcan cut him off, shoving by him.

  “Kali is the evil one, Slade. You really need to think about what you are doing for her.” He stalked off, not bothering to look back at his brother.

  The Elders were planning on sterilizing the Lost Ones? That was barbaric. Who knew how many descendants he had? And Katya was bringing back the stone that would make this curse unbreakable. Something needed to be done.

  Lorcan broke into a run towards Hunter’s cell.

  *

  Katya’s foot found a solid footing beneath her and she breathed a sigh of relief. She tried not to look down, but she couldn’t help herself, and her vision went fuzzy for a moment as she stared at her foot floating far above the ground. She yanked her sight upwards and focused on moving forward, carefully testing the ground in front of her before putting her full weight on it. She sent a prayer to the Three that the spell holding her on t
he air would not suddenly disappear. She increased her pace as the sounds of shouting behind her began to echo off cave walls and she knew they must have made it through the maze of ledges and were now close behind.

  She threw caution to the wind and began to run, her heart skipping a beat as one footfall was a hair lower than the rest and she thought it had given way beneath her. As she burst through the cave on the other side, she came out into a lush field of corn with a path running through the center.

  Rather than take this path, she cut off to the side, trying to step around the corn so as not to make her passage obvious by broken vegetation. Leaves slapped her face and she ran blindly until she heard the voices stop echoing. Then she stopped and squatted, controlling her breathing to an even low tone.

  The corn was planted in thick rows, and was taller than her. She couldn’t see two rows beyond her, so she listened. The guards had apparently correctly assumed she’d gone into the corn, but must not have been able to see any sign of where she went in. She could hear them moving in several different directions, spreading out around and away from her. She could feel probes of magic, their tendrils searching out into the space around her and she quickly wove a spell of her own to help disguise her presence.

  She heard one that couldn’t have been ten feet from her, their slow steps crunching the ground. Katya tensed in wait. As they approached the row she was in, she squeezed herself into the row itself and matched her steps to that of her stalker’s, making her own noise that much more difficult for him to detect.

  The man stepped into the row with his head turned the opposite way, a small miracle as far as Katya was concerned, and she ducked into the one he had just come from. She waited until she could no longer hear their movement before slowly treading back to the pathway. She peered out through the corn to see if they had left a look-out.

  They had. So she moved back a few rows, enough that the woman wouldn’t be able to see her and broke into a run. It wasn’t long before she came to the end of the cornfield and she squatted at the edge.