Chapter 43 - Glory
Glory
XLIII
I paid attention to the bond as we passed into yet another thick forest and as the sun sank below the horizon, shrouding the trees in darkness.
Cammon led us without breaking stride, his emotions firmly reined in.
More than once I wondered if it would be wise to hunt while we could, before the light grew too dim to see by, but every time I started to suggest it, Cammon stiffened and pressed us harder.
I saw nothing to make me immediately worry, no sign of the mutts creeping up on us, but I trusted Cammon’s instincts more than my own on this. Experience and the knowledge of his family primed him to anticipate their moves.
Unless he was wrong about who was controlling the mutts. If it was whoever had placed the curse on Brynna, they’d have good reason to want to stop us from reaching the amulet. Regardless, it was motivation to keep pressing through the night.
Only when we reached a massive tree in the middle of a glen did Cammon let us stop.
He shifted out his wings, pulled me against his bare chest, and flew us up into the middle branches of the towering oak.
I stared down among the leaves and tried not to think of how long a fall it would be if I rolled in my sleep.
“I’ll keep you safe, Buttons,” he murmured in my ear.
A thrill ran through me, and it never occurred to me not to put my faith in him.
It turned out I needn’t have worried about doing anything in my sleep.
Very little sleep occurred. Snuffles kept me awake.
The sound of creatures moving around among the shrubs and forest debris that sounded too large to be regular forest animals.
A low growl startled me out of a doze at one point, and Cammon’s arm tightened around me, suggesting that he wasn’t catching much sleep up here either.
This was silly. We needed to be well rested.
Tersey had two final clues for us. One more landmark and then the key to reveal the prize we’d come all this way to retrieve.
He would have saved his hardest puzzles for the end, wanting to deter anyone who happened across them by accident.
We had to be sharp, ready for anything. I wished I had the magical control to set all his traps on fire.
The harder I tried to sleep, the more sleep evaded me, and when dawn arrived the next day, I was ready to tumble out of the tree. My stomach grumbled, my back complained, and I wished we could be closer to the final clue so I could stretch out in a cabin on the ship and go home.
But even that thought held less comfort than it had the day we’d set out.
I hated that I was torn in a million directions, as though the mutts had already achieved their aim, and it was just by chance that I still had all my limbs attached.
I pulled out the clue alongside the map and skimmed through it, wanting to refresh my memory about where we were going.
We would find the signpost today, I was sure of it.
Based on the map, we’d leave these woods before mid-afternoon and reach the hill marked as the Widow’s Hood.
Then we’d have one more signpost to go. And then the ship.
“Any sign of the mutts?” I asked Cammon as he rolled up the blanket and tucked it into his pack.
“Not that I can see. Wait here while I take a quick look. I’ll see if I can scrounge up some breakfast at the same time.”
His black wings rippled, and I stared after him as he leapt from the branch and swooped over the ground. So graceful. So beautiful. So powerful. He had the potential to be so much more than a simple treasure hunter. I was happy for his sake that he was close to achieving his dreams.
I went over the map again and again, growing worried when Cammon didn’t return. Surely I would have heard a fight if he’d found the mutts? Finally, the leaves rustled, and he dropped down from above. The line of his jaw was set, his eyes narrow and gaze sharp.
“They’re nearby but hiding. If we’re lucky, they spent all night trying to reach us and now they need to rest for a bit. We should move while we can. I’ll fly us to the hill.”
I frowned. “Are you sure? It’s not that far, but it’s far enough.”
He nodded his chin towards our packs. “We can leave some of the extra blankets behind along with anything else we won’t need anymore. With one, maybe two, nights left on the road, we can get away with bare necessities. If I’m carrying only you, I’ll be fine.”
Trusting him to know himself, we sorted out our belongings, taking only what was essential, then I pulled on our remaining pack and wrapped my arms around his neck.
His hands slid around my waist, and he lifted me so I could wrap my legs around him.
With his arms clasping me tightly against his chest, he leapt from the branch, going into a free fall.
My stomach shot into my throat and I squeezed my eyes shut until his wings snapped up and carried us through the branches and above the treeline.
From here, the sunrise was a beautiful mix of oranges and golds, casting the entire forest in amber. The breeze was warm and soft, and I squinted into the Never Sea beyond the hills. We were close. As long as everything else went well, that three-day deadline would be manageable.
But that was a big as long as.
I turned my attention ahead of us, to where another set of rolling hills stretched out past the trees, culminating in a higher ridge that curved in on itself, looking everything like a bowed head.
“That’s it,” I said, awed by what nature had created.
For a moment, I almost had to thank Tersey for giving me the opportunity to see the beauties of the world I never would have discovered if I’d stayed buried in my research.
Then I remembered the spike pit and the fire in the cave and resumed cursing his name.
I might have been able to appreciate these beauties just as well without the near-death experiences along the way.
Cammon set us down at the top of the Widow’s Hood, and I read through the clue again. Right. The monsters. The shrine. The trees.
I groaned and looked around us, braced for all kinds of threats to close in now that we were here.
Since there was no shrine at the top of the hill, I started down the incline towards where the hill appeared to be bowing. Sure enough, tucked under rock and grass was a tiny alcove with a stone basin, the rim of it covered in looping script.
I looked over my shoulder at the treeline. We’d slept in those woods last night. That giant tree hadn’t moved at all as far as I’d been aware. So what monsters were we supposed to brace for?
“I’ll keep watch,” Cammon said from the top of the hill. “You read and tell me what dance the two of us need to perform to get out of here alive.”
I twisted my lips in a wry smile, appreciating the source of his cynicism, and read the words written across the stone.
Where water falls, the next clue waits, for by the tree, the final gate. Open the door and you will find, a map to lead
The scrawl ended midsentence, with no indication that the rest of the message was written elsewhere. I frowned and read it again, certain I’d missed something.
Was the unfinished poem part of the instructions?
There had to be more to it, yet when I ran my fingers under the bottom of the basin, I found the drawer easily enough. No buttons, no apparent tricks. There was even a little handle that made it easy to pull out. Which I didn’t. Not yet.
I looked over my shoulder to make sure we were still alone. The atmosphere was tense, like something was waiting, primed and ready to go off. But nothing moved. The trees behind us swayed in the wind, birds flitted from branch to branch, animals scurried through the underbrush.
I didn’t trust the peacefulness. Even if I ignored the threat of the mutts, every step of the way, these puzzles had been a trap. I turned back to the shrine and paid extra attention to the space behind it, to the base, to the centre of the basin. When I found nothing, I went over it all again.
“Everything all right?” Cammon called when I’d gone over the entire area five times and found no hint that the rest of the instructions were anywhere. The paranoia ate at me, and I wondered if that was Tersey’s trick this time, getting into my head so I was too afraid to open the damned drawer.
“I don’t know. The instructions look like they were interrupted. I’m not sure if opening this drawer will cause everything to devolve into chaos.”
He chuckled, the sound vibrating through me. “After everything, we’re no strangers to chaos, Buttons. I vote for jumping in with both feet.”
“Of course you do,” I muttered under my breath, but I felt nothing but affection as I said it, and the returning wave of gentle amusement was so natural, so soft and gentle and intimate, that I basked in the dual flow of warmth.
I quickly shook it off, took a deep breath, and yanked the drawer open. The stone slid out of its slot, and a piece of parchment fell into my hand. I remained still, braced, waiting, but after a count to thirty, nothing happened.
Cautiously, I gripped the parchment and took three steps backwards away from the shrine.
No monsters jumped out at me. The trees remained where they were.
“Well,” I said. “That was anticlimactic.”
The promise of increasingly difficult puzzles taunted me, and the lack of danger was almost a disappointment.
“What does the clue say?” Cammon asked, coming down the hill and peering over my shoulder. He rested his hand on my waist, the heat of his palm sinking through my shirt into my flesh and blood.
I unfurled the parchment and took in the few brief words. No poem this time. Just a simple map with instructions written in Ancient Folish.
“‘Follow the path to watery ruin. The amulet rests under the red oak tree.’”
Together, we stared at the map. The very small map that showed a single line following a single path towards a single tree.
Cammon’s grip on me tightened, and I understood the wave of despair that flowed through the bond. I was certain he picked up the same from me.
The amulet was no more than a few hours away.
All these weeks, all our efforts, all the threats and danger and wonder and beauty and joy were almost at an end. One more walk, and we’d both have accomplished what we’d set out to do.
On top of what that meant for us, a fresh dose of fear crept up on me.
“This was too easy, right? What if it’s a false clue?
What if Tersey played us somewhere along the road, and this isn’t the right Widow’s Hood but a decoy?
Or what if he was messing with people from the start and there is no amulet?
What if everything he wrote was a lie and he never extended his life?
Or what if the amulet is there, but he realized it doesn’t work anymore and that’s why this puzzle is…
well, it’s unfinished, isn’t it? It’s like he had everything set up but nothing came of it.
Why would that be unless we’re about to lose everything?
We’ll be forced to go to war with the fae, and my secret will slip, and they’ll execute me for something outside my control, and everything I’ve worked for my entire life is about to unravel right here. ”
Spiralling in my panic, I turned to look at Cammon and was only slightly reassured by the confident set of his jaw, the lack of anything other than certainty in his beautiful crimson eyes.
No, not only certainty. Sadness. A deep, flowing sorrow that cut beneath everything as he said, “It’s real, it works, and it’s close. We’re there, Glory. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
I swallowed hard. “How do you know?”
“Because you couldn’t fail at anything you set your mind to.
You’ve lived twenty-five years with no one finding out your secret.
Something that would have been impossible for most people.
Anything you put effort into, you accomplish, and after all the research and work you’ve put into this, the amulet will be no different.
We’re going to find it, we’re going to get on that ship, and we’re going to get you home.
Then, once you have your library, you’ll change the world one obsession at a time.
You have such a brilliant mind, and Evaniel would be a fool to let you go, even if he did learn the truth. ”
Every word he spoke was so perfect that the worst of my spin settled, but the deeper, lurking dread remained.
“Maybe we should rest here for tonight.” It came out as a plea. I didn’t want to rush this final day. “We have time. We could make camp and get a good night’s sleep, grab the amulet tomorrow, and then head to the ship.”
“I won’t let you do this, Buttons.” Cammon’s hand slid from my waist to the back of my head, holding me steady so I had no choice but to look at him.
“This will be your crowning achievement, and I won’t have you cowering from it because of whatever fears are holding you back.
You’ve proved so many times on this trip that fear has nothing on you. Let’s get this done, all right?”
He stroked his thumb across my cheek, the touch sending tingles under my skin.
Between us, the bond flowed loud and true.
I sensed all the emotions running through it, his and mine, and couldn’t help but notice the faint thread cutting along the centre of it, stronger than the others but so new and fragile that I dared not name it.
Especially since I had no way of being certain if it was travelling in both directions or only one.
“All right.”
Cammon bowed his forehead against mine, dropped his hand to intertwine our fingers, and led me forward.
For one last puzzle.