Chapter 76 And He’s There
Birdsong echoed along the forest as we hoofed along as fast as we could.
The path Otsiano had shown us was narrow, and it felt like the trees were closing in on us.
The sun seemed harsher here; the air—thicker.
A light breeze wafted past; the cloying scent of decaying roses caught in the tailwind.
I coughed and immediately regretted it, as my cough echoed through the air, ricocheting through the woodland.
“I don’t like it here,” Thornhold said.
“I don’t either. I feel like we’re in a dark fairytale, right at the part where everything goes wrong. You know, all those old fairytales were actually written as morality stories, as a warning to children so they would behave,” I added.
And truth be told, it did feel like we were in the midst of a fairytale.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a golden goose along the way, or a poisoned apple, or a spinning wheel and some flax.
We hurried along, conscious of the knowledge that we were a mere five miles away from Devastey’s prison.
I thought back to when we’d started out, when we first found the key.
So little time had passed, and yet it felt a lifetime.
Without thinking, I brought my hand up to touch the key hanging around my neck, and was surprised to feel it gently pulsing, as though it, too, had suddenly woken up.
“The key—it’s awake,” I murmured.
“What do you mean?” Ray asked.
“It’s pulsing. It started to pulse when we stepped onto the path, and it feels like the pulse is getting stronger,” I said. “I think it feels the prison—and the keyport.”
“We can do this, Erenye,” Thornhold said. “You know we have your back.”
“I do know that, but I don’t want to put any of you in danger. If Zaran is there—”
Before I could finish, Reggie said, “Listen, if he’s there, he’s there. We do the best we can to deal with him. If you go alone, you can’t possibly battle him—and then the world loses. Abarria loses if we don’t defeat Devastey. I’ve already lost one world. I can’t face losing another.”
I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “I understand. I just…”
“Think of her as a Sym. This is just the game, and we’re playing a particularly dark chapter of it,” Brynn said. “After all, you know Devastey had to start out as a Sym, regardless of what changes have happened since the game broke.”
That helped, actually. Devastey hadn’t been an employee—she had started out as a Sym. And thinking of her as a computer program did more to shore up my fortitude than any pep talk.
“Thanks,” I said. “That’s actually the most helpful thing I’ve heard. And that’s going to make a big difference when we have to face her.”
Maybe it wasn’t altogether healthy to think of someone you had to destroy as being a computer program, but it made it easier. As sorry as I’d felt for HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, I still had recognized he was just a construct.
We pulled in tighter as the path narrowed even more, and then—just before it became single-file width—we came to a wall of briars, just like Otsiano had said we would.
The thick jungle of thorns and leaves stretched far overhead—at least twenty feet. We couldn’t climb over it, so we’d have to go through. I pulled out my silver sword, which was sharper than my other blades.
“All right, time to cut through this tangle,” I said.
“Let me try. I’ve got an axe,” Thornhold said. He waited until the rest of us stood back, then cast a mighty blow against the thumb-sized canes covered with sharp thorns. The blade bit through the lignified vine, cleaving the cane in two. Another slice, and the cane broke.
Thornhold stood back, and Brynn and I went to work, dragging the patch of briars and vines out of the way. Then, Thornhold went in to cut another chunk of the vegetation apart, and once again, Brynn and I untangled it and dragged the branches and limbs out, piling them to one side.
We continued on until Thornhold had managed to clear a patch of the thorny bushes, about four feet high and three feet wide. The hole led through the briar wall, and on the other side, we could see afternoon light peeking through.
“Here goes nothing,” I said, bending to make my way through the three-foot passage. Pretty good, I thought. Thornhold had broken through the first barrier. I cautiously peeked out from the other side. And there, not ten feet from the briar patch, a barrier shimmered.
The half-dome shimmered like glass, although it looked less resilient than a glass dome.
It glistened, as if oil slicks were pooling in places, and inside, I could see a small house.
But I could also see what looked like a casket, standing near the edge, on a pair of saw-horses.
Inside the casket, I could see a figure, though I couldn’t make out who it was. Not from here.
“That must be her,” I said. “Devastey.”
“Otsiano did say she sleeps within the prison. Where’s the keyport?” Thornhold asked.
I glanced around, then saw a small stand about five yards away. It stuck out against the emerald background of grass—what looked like a red metal post with a black top. In the center of the top was a key-shaped indentation.
Looking around, I scanned the area, trying to see any sign that Zaran might be around. Just because I didn’t see him didn’t mean he hadn’t arrived and was hiding, and I tried to keep that in mind.
“Keep your eyes open, guys. We can’t handle it if he surprises us.” I headed for the keyport. I was going to have to bend over to fit the key in, I thought, but I’d stand on my head if it freed me from carrying that thing around.
The others spread out, keeping an eye in all directions.
I approached the keyport and took a deep breath.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, I was about to get rid of this albatross.
I leaned over, inserting the key into the keyport.
I heard a faint ‘click’ and the next thing I knew, the chain around my neck broke, and I was able to stand up without my ill-informed necklace.
The next moment, the bubble around Devastey began to shimmer and dissolve. As the others turned, ready to rush in, another sound alerted us.
I turned to see a man coming out from behind a thicket of bramble bushes, and he wasn’t alone.
Ten skeletons and what looked like a dozen zombies spread out in front of him, cutting us off from both him and Devastey.
As they headed toward us, Zaran took off running toward the coffin.
I caught my breath. We had to do this. I jumped up onto the top of the keyport, balancing like only an elf could.
And the battle was on.